When Worlds Collide
by sanzopriestess
Summary: Willow is your average quiet and shy, law abiding girl. And Ace is . . . well your average pirate. So what happens when the quiet and solitary life of Willow and the exciting chaotic world of Portgaz D. Ace collide? And what kind of trouble do they get into when Ace deicdes that he wants to show Willow what it means to really live.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own any of the following: One Piece, The Whitebeard Pirates, or Portgaz D Ace.

So that being said I hope you enjoy this fic.

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Swinging open the door to my favorite bakery in town the bell chimed, alerting the woman behind the display case of pastries, cookies and brownies of my presence. Which was something I wish it wouldn't do. She looked up from counting the money in the cash register and with a smile said, "Come on in hon, don't be shy." Before she looked over her shoulder and into the bakery part of the shop, in a voice quite contrary to the soft inviting tone she had just used shouted, "Bring me out Willow's usual!" As we waited the short plump woman with greying brown hair finished counting the money and asked, "How are you doin' up there in that house of yours? Dontcha ever get lonely?"

We had this conversation or some other variation of it just about every time I came into the bakery. But it was nice to know that someone cared or at least took interest in my well-being. I nodded. "No it's nice up there, quiet too." That was the best perk of living where I did. As much as I loved most of the people of the city of Weston I wasn't much of a people person and I liked my. I realized that my response didn't really answer her first question and said with a gentle smile, "But I'll have you know that I'm doing just fine." Even though I was still trying to patch up the hole that the Straw Hat Luffy had created in my art studio I was doing just fine, it was an add on room so it hadn't affected the rest of my house very much. Rather I was find by my standards. I had a house and water, clothing, inspiration and the people of Weston, what else did I really need?

"That's good to hear dear." The voice belonging to her husband sounded cutting through any response that Ana-Beth was about to give as he walked out of the bakery covered in flour and wearing a chocolate stained apron. He handed me my usual bag of two loaves of bread some breakfast pastries and maybe a something extra.

I handed my money to Ana-Beth but before I could turn around to leave her voice stopped me. "Are you eating enough up there? You look rather thin hon."

"No she don't Beth. Don't go puttin' no crazy ideas that she don't need into her mind." The past middle-aged ginger named Henry scolded his wife. But before I could attempt to sneak away he said "Besides if Willow ever needs anything she'll come to us, right?" As he said that last word he fixed a pointed 'you had better' look on me.

"Y-yes of course guys." I added a quick nod before thanking them once again and slipping out before I could be asked any other questions.

I headed for Ocean View Diner where my two friends, the twins Ava and Evalyn worked. The diner lived up to its name; it had a beautiful view of the ports and the ocean. I often came here to sketch or try and get better at my water color paintings. When they saw me sitting in our usual corner booth they slipped in, Ava next to me and Evalyn across from me. Despite being twins and having the same lavender hair, same silver eyes and same face and body shapes they looked nothing alike, that was where their similarities ended. They looked nothing alike, both their hair styles and lengths varied, their clothing style were like day and night and though the bases of their personalities were similar they each had their own quirks. We chatted for as long as we possibly could before they were spotted and swept back into the kitchen by a friend of their mothers, a senior worker.

After I finished my tea and left I headed for the library. It was a large stone building with towering wrap around shelves, rolling ladders and a large open space before the large desk where its librarian and his helpers sat. When a chime once again announced my presence the old man who was just about as old as the oldest book in the building looked up over the flat rims of his glasses, smiled, stamped something into a book and gently closed it before standing and walking around the desk saying, "Good afternoon my dear child. What may we delve for within the deepest, darkest crevices of this magnificently timeworn edifice today?"

The sad thing was that I knew exactly what he was saying, the meaning of every word that he had just used in that sentence and could appropriately respond without sounding like a complete and utter fool. "Any suggestions Cato?" I asked clutching the bag of bread to my chest tightly as his bony arms wrapped me in a warm hug. Cato was like the slightly insane grandfather of the city that was my family. He was a wise old man that was kind and slightly off his rocker though. However he had the respect of the entire city. And sometimes if I was lucky enough he'd share a small slice of his wisdom with me from behind his desk or from atop one of the many rolling ladders that he loved so much.

When I went rigid in his arms he took a step back and cleared his throat. "Right, personal space, sorry. Now let's see. . ." He trailed off stroking the white hair on his chin on as if he had a really long beard; in reality it was quite short. Of course he was trying to look silly before he shouted the word 'eureka!' with a snap of his fingers. "Right this way my dear Willow. We just got in some new adventure and romance novels that I'm positive that you'll absolutely love but, those can wait another time. I don't think you've read. . ." He drew out the word as he looked up searching for a certain number or for a certain author's last name. "There it is, give me just a moment." He climbed onto the nearest ladder and made a show of rocketing away about fifty feet before slamming to a stop that should have sent him flying, and without a seconds hesitation pulled a dusty old book off the shelf and said, "Yes, this is a great one indeed, about the river of life and its ever flowing and changing currents. You know change isn't always a bad thing no matter how scary it may be." He gave me this look that I didn't understand over the tops of his glasses before handing me the book and going back to what he had been doing before I had arrived, giving me some time to scan the shelves by myself.

After choosing a few more books I returned to the large sitting area and checked them out after handing over the ones in my bag. We conversed about those books and their authors and the authors styles for far longer then I should have allowed before leaving and quickly finishing the errands that still remained on my list.

On my way around town I returned every nod, smile, hello and any other forms of greetings that I received. However on the way out of town I declined every offer of help that I received. I didn't need it and why make anyone take the return trip? Plus I was used to the forest and was able to skillfully navigate around, under and over the thick roots, through the vines and at places thick underbrush.

After reaching my quaint little stone house and putting the books where the belonged, the bread and pastries in their places, after putting the bag of unmixed cement by my front door, setting up a brand new easel and hiding my newest set of brushes and colors, I grabbed the little rectangular box of pastels and my largest sketchpad before heading out.

I half skipped half walked with a spring in my step till I reached the edge of a cliff with a smile. I inhaled a deep breath of the fresh salty air, releasing it only when it became necessary before sitting down and propping the sketchpad against my legs. The sound of the forest behind me and the crashing of the waves into the rocks below me mixed harmoniously in my ears.

I studied the scene before me trying to decide what color I should use first, trying to figure out if I should sketch everything in pencil or black and then add the color later or if I should just freehand it all. I intently stared at the vibrant and brilliantly blended hues of pink, orange, yellow, fading and darkening into black blue sky. The sun was currently but a ball of fire sinking into the horizon of the ocean, silhouetting some rocks far off in the distance. Glancing down at the opened box next to me I carefully selected a daisy yellow before getting to work. I had to hurry before the colors fully drained into the night, before the sun was fully consumed by the ocean and the moon tossed into the sky in its place, before the stars began piercing the sky, and most importantly before I lost the inspiration to capture this perfect sunset on paper.

-ACE-

When the crew was told not to make trouble on the island of Serehna I felt as though Pops was talking directly to me. After docking he said that we'd be leaving in two weeks and reminded us to stay out of trouble that would make us have to leave any time before the set date. He also told us to keep the island whole for the duration of out stay and after those words he turned us loose.

I let out a cry of joy and ran towards the rail of the ship, vaulting right over it, and after landing on the wooden docks pushed the brim of my hat up with a smile. Before me was a medium sized city that was bustling but the foreground boasted huge trees with even larger canopies with ribbons of pathways cutting through the large tree covered rocky hill, maybe it was a mountain? I couldn't even begin to imagine what might be in that forest, what I might find amongst the greenery. And I had two weeks to explore! The thought summoned an even wider smile.

I was about to take off when an arm wrapped around my shoulders and a voice said, "A newbie thinks that he can beat you in not only an eating contest but also a drinking contest."

I scoffed. Only Pops and a few select others could beat me in a drinking contest and I was pretty sure that I had most people- Luffy was questionable- beat when it came to eating contests. "He can't." I assured Thatch removing his arm from around my shoulders. There were only a few hours of daylight left and I didn't want to run the risk of burning up the forest while trying to use my fire as a light because my flashlight burned out because that's how lucky I was and that's just how things worked.

"Then you had better put him in his place."

I sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll teach the newbie a lesson." I guess I'll just have to wait till tomorrow unless I ordered the strongest alcohol the bar, tavern, whatever had to offer and use that to win in minutes. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan to me. We were lead into a bar, sat down next to each other and after telling the curvy bartender woman that we wanted the strongest stuff they had shots were poured and after tossing mine back we were off.

I had the kid beat within five shots and ten minutes and when I stood and slapped him on the back to congratulate him for having lasted that long he fell forwards with a glass rattling thunk. I laughed a bit wondering if that resembled the way I looked when I had an episode. "Somebody get him back to the ship or something." I ordered before heading out. Just about half, if not more, of the crew had followed us into the bar so someone was bound to listen . . . right?

But before I could make it to the door a hand landed on my shoulder and stopped me. "Where are you going?" Marco's voice asked me, a bottle in his other hand.

"To explore." What else would I be doing?

"No you're not. You're drunk."

-MARCO-

Ace blinked at me as if trying to register my words before slurring, "Am not." Like a child.

I chuckled at him. He couldn't even walk straight. "That's right, you're completely wasted." Maybe Ace had forgotten to literally burn off the vast amount of alcohol he had just consumed because usually Ace wouldn't get this drunk if he even managed to get drunk in the first place. And I knew that the second division commander wanted to explore the forest, see what adventures- if any- it had to offer, but letting him loose on an island in the condition that he was currently in was not even a remotely good idea.

"I'm going to explore while I still can. See if I can find any Hercules Beetles for Luffy." At the mention of his brother Ace smiled broadly.

I nearly face palmed as he turned his shoulder into fire and my hand fell limply back to my side. Even wasted he couldn't shut up about his little brother. As Ace continued his journey to the door of the tavern I held my hands up in surrender before taking a seat instead of going after him.

"Give up?" Thatch asked a few women hanging off his arms.

I nodded and ordered another bottle. I wasn't even going to try to stop him. Ace was someone else's problem now and if he wasn't back in two weeks that's when we could start getting concerned about him.

-Willow-

When I stepped outside the heavy morning for had yet to lift so I grabbed a flashlight and headed out with my sketchpad and a simple pencil in hand. Maybe today I'd catch the forests native wildlife, something that most people didn't get the opportunity to see because they were mostly nocturnal animals that were gone by time the morning glories closed. Or maybe the sun filtering through the thick fog would inspire me. I didn't know what I'd end up going home with, what new drawings that my sketchpad would contain at the end of the day.

Maybe I was too deep in thought or maybe it was the fogs fault but whatever the cause my foot caught on something and one moment I was walking rather happily and the next I was sprawled out on the ground tasting grass having failed to catch myself during the fall, before I hit the ground. Quickly I rolled over and sat up expecting to see a new root to be arching out of the ground like the back of a sea king from the ocean, the trees in this forest had the tendency to move during the night or extremely dark stormy days, it was as though the sun paralyzed them or maybe it energized them, but that tendency was why most people stayed along the barren of foliage shores of the island .Though I couldn't blame them, with moving trees it was hard to have path markers and things of that sort. But when I leaned forwards, squinting through the swirling fog I did not see dirt covered roots but instead a dirty and fleshy colored limb. Unfortunately the fog obscured the rest of the body from my sight. Well I could see their dark outline but that was it.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry." I managed bowing so low on my knees that my forehead almost touched the ground. I had tripped over a person, not a root but instead a person! I hope they weren't mad at me. What if they had been sleeping peacefully and I had just disturbed them?! "It-it's totally m-my fault." Doubled over I waited there for a response.

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A/N:

Well I know that the first chapter was a little slow and I apologize for that. But I hope all of you readers liked it anyway. I also apologize for the pov changes, I'm warning you now there's going to be a lot of those. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people don't like those but I like capturing everyone's thoughts and stuff.

Also I'm still debating if I should keep it in first person pov or change it to third person. What do you guys think? Should I keep it as it is now or change it? Your input and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you guys for your positive reviews. They definitely made me feel better about writing this thing in first person pov.

I can also tell you that the pov's might not be that long, their about a page or so on paper . . . and they seem a lot shorter when typed. I'll try to work on having longer pov's and everything.

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But when none came I risked a look up, at the person. The fog hadn't cleared yet but it was beginning to thin. But only enough for me to tell that the person I had tripped over was male, and that I had most likely tripped over their arm. When I studied the person and realized that they were facedown I acted without a second thought.

I checked his body for any wounds, carefully and quickly using my hands to feel for anything worrisome. But when I found nothing external or from what I could feel, internal, I rolled him over and cupped my hand over his nose and mouth, checking for breath. And when I lightly felt what I was looking for on my hand I pressed two fingers to their throat and checked for their pulse just in case.

Ok, so the shirtless, half-dressed person wasn't dead, I had checked, double checked and rechecked after that, which was good; it was good that I hadn't tripped over a dead body. But it was only good in principle. It was bad because they were not only well built but I had just put my hands all over their well-built and muscular body half naked body!

As I began mentally freaking out I located my pencil and my sketchpad and put them in the cream colored messenger styled bag that I was almost never seen without. I figured that I'd need both of my hands free so that I could take him home. After all he was probably just a really lost and very confused traveler who only wanted out of the forest. So once this young man woke up I'd take him back into town.

After tucking my hair behind my ear I realized that I now faced a huge problem.

How was u going to get this boy home? Ok well he certainly wasn't a boy, so I guess that made him a young man, maybe in his late teens or early twenties. Young man or boy, either way I still had to carry him home by myself and how was I supposed to do that when he was going to be as limp as a cooked noodle?

Well after a lot of time, struggling, effort and energy later I finally found a solution that allowed me to carry him more than a few stumbled steps. When I had first picked him up something orange had fallen off of his head and when I looked it I realized that it was a hat so I picked it up, dropping him in the process of bending down and decided to put it on my head.

The second time I had managed to pick him up I had nearly collapsed under his weight and had nearly gotten squished beneath him. And let me tell you that would have been awkwardly unpleasant.

By time I had found a solution the fog had cleared, meaning quite a bit of time had passed. I couldn't help that he was about half a head taller than me and I couldn't help that he feet were dragging but I was glad that it was only his feet that were doing so. Because I had been about to give up and to just drag him to my house by his ankles or wrists.

But I had somehow maneuvered him so that I held his wrists over my chest, his arms slung over my shoulders, his chin resting on my left shoulder and his head lulling to the side against mine.

The walk home was slower than usual and hot only had I not drawn a single thing but I hadn't been able to collect any rocks either.

The walk was also harder than usual too. Getting into my house was a challenge too because it was hard to hold both of his wrists in only one of my hands.

But eventually I made it in.

When I did I more or less dropped him on my couch and then proceeded to make him as comfortable as I possibly could after double checking for any worrisome external injuries then going back over his body to carefully search for any internal injuries that I knew how to check for. I only doubled checked because he smelled faintly of alcohol and intoxicated men weren't the smartest creatures.

Because I wasn't comfortable with leaving him in my house alone I found other ways to occupy my time. I cleaned a few rooms in my house, did a few chores such as laundry and organizing things on shelves, I ate lunch and then an early dinner. I even grabbed my sketchpad and sat on the loveseat across from the couch and started a very detailed picture of his sleeping form.

After completing it a few hours later I decided that I'd clean all of those small cuts that he had gotten, they were nothing big or of importance but it gave me something do to.

I filled a bowl with water, grabbed a cloth and knelt next to him. During the entire time that I was kneeling there or bent over the couch I was deathly afraid that he'd wake up.

I mean what would I do if he woke up? What would I do to defend myself against him if it came down to it and I really needed to do so?

Heck maybe I was just over thinking things. Yeah that was probably it. The amount of thinking that I did definitely made up for my lack of talking. That thought eased my mind and I relaxed moving from cleaning up his chest, torso and neck to his face.

-Ace-

Something cool dabbed gently at my face and I turned my head into the cool wet cloth. Mmmhm that felt good.

The thought that it was one of my fellow crewmates pulling some kind of bizarre prank on me crossed my mind but was gone when there was a scream and the sound of water spilling relatively close to me.

I bolted upright and looking around I knew that it certainly couldn't have been a crewmate of mine, no one screamed like that- not that I'm aware of at least . . . Hmmm maybe I should conduct some experiments when I get back to the Moby Dick to see if anyone did in fact scream like that.

I shook my head, now was not the time to be planning pranks.

I wasn't on the ship or even passed out at some random location such as a bar, in fact how had I ended up in such a cozy little place? I wondered instantly checking myself. I let out a breath of relief; everything seemed intact, though my hat seemed to be missing.

Wait, had I ended up going home with a woman? I pondered this idea as I looked around. There was a coffee table within arm's reach along with a bowl that had spilled. Well I just found the source of the crashing liquid I had heard with that scream. There was also a love seat, little square windows, a few book shelves that were stuffed to their full capacity, and some framed and some non-framed pictures and drawings on the walls.

When I looked at the armchair that didn't match the rest of the furniture there was a squeak and a flash of orange disappeared behind it.

Had I accidentally thought aloud? I wondered. I also wondered where my hat had gone; I remember having had it last night, though to be hones I couldn't remember much after leaving the bar. Man what if I had lost my hat?!

I shook my head again, I could worry about my hat later, I had to figure out where I was and who was behind that chair. "Hello?" I called to them.

Well I could certainly scratch the idea that I was alone, there was definitely someone behind that mismatching, rather comfortable looking armchair. Maybe they knew who I was and that was why they were hiding. "I'm not going to hurt you." I tried to assure them.

I mean I'd try not to hurt them, but if they did in fact know who I was and decided that they wanted my bounty for themselves then I'd be forced to not only defend myself but also to hurt them and even possibly kill them. But if they didn't want to hurt me then I wouldn't hurt them . . . no on purpose anyways. "I'm-"

-Willow-

Their sentence cut off suddenly and there was silence and when I peeked over the top of the chair the boy's chin was resting against his chest and his black hair was hiding his face. Carefully and slowly I began to creep forwards ready to retreat back behind the couch. As I did so I wondered if he were dead.

What was I going to do if he was dead? How does one die mid-sentence anyway? I wondered coming to a stop inches from him. Just as slowly as I had moved I reached up and brushed his hair aside so that I could see if he were asleep or not. And sure enough he was the black haired boy was even snoring just a tad.

As funny and kind of cute as he looked and the current situation was I found myself wanting to know what he had been about to say.

Had he been about to threaten me, about to say something like 'I'm going to (insert painful threat here) if you don't show yourself', or had he been about to introduce himself? Or heck maybe he wasn't going to say either and was still partially intoxicated so gibberish and nonsense would have come spilling out of his mouth. But incoherent nonsense or not I was almost dying to know what he had been about to say.

Now I knew precisely what the cat felt before curiosity killed it. At this moment curiosity could have killed me, it could have burned me alive, it could have suffocated me, it could have-

"Ace." The boys head snapped up and his eyes flew open as though there hadn't been a break in his conversation. I fell back out of my crouching position and onto my butt with a startled scream. Upon my clumsy landing I covered my mouth with both hands and stared up in fear at the now standing person. He was even taller from down here.

The name Ace rang a bell somewhere in the back of my head and I knew that I had heard it from somewhere but I couldn't remember where I had heard it or who had said his name. I was almost certain though that I hadn't read about him . . . or maybe I had.

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A/N: I promise there will be more character interaction soon

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

-Ace-

When I finished my sentence I realized that not only had I had an episode but that the person I had been blindly talking to was immobilized at my feet, staring up at me with these vivid and bright bottle green eyes.

"Oh hey my hat." I said happily reaching for it. When I plucked it off her head I noticed that she not only whimpered but that she also flinched. "Thanks for keeping it safe." I said with a smile.

My head and chest no longer felt bare as i put my hat back on my head.

Despite me smiling she didn't move from that position with her hands clamped over her mouth and her eyes wide with fear. Her expression remained frightened and her straight teal colored hair was falling into her eyes.

What was I supposed to do?

Sure I was used to people being afraid of me, sometimes it was best but right now was not one of those times. Maybe I should try to make her feel more comfortable. Yeah that had to work! I held out my hand for her to take so that I could help her up and asked, "Who might you be?" Again I tried smiling but when that felt forced I gave that up.

She moved her hands but didn't fully uncover her mouth, just moved them enough to stammer, "W-w-w-willow."

I sat back down on the couch, not wanting to tower so far over her. Maybe I had been intimidating her by standing. "Well Willow I'd like to thank you for taking care of my hat and bringing me here. It's a comfy couch you have. You did bring me here right?"

She nodded and quickly tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear with a tiny timid 'yes'.

"By yourself?" I questioned. Again she nodded but didn't speak. Sighing heavily I asked, "Are you afraid of me or did I just startle you?" I was betting on having just startled her.

I mean I hadn't given the girl any reason to be really afraid of me. I doubted that she knew that I was a logia type or that I was Fire Fist Ace. But before she could answer I stood once again and offered my hand saying, "Come on let me at least help you up. You brought me all the way to your house all by yourself."

I was only trying to be nice. I was trying to thank her before I left to see where exactly I had ended up and then getting to that forest that I wanted so badly to see. But have you ever tried to sincerely thank someone while they were looking up at you from the floor with such wide and frightened eyes?

No?

Well it's hard.

Her reaction wasn't immediate and she seemed to have to study my hand and probably question my motivation and what I'd do after helping her to her feet, before tentatively she removed her top hand from the other hand that was actually covering her mouth. She reached out and put it in mine. In comparison to mine her hand was small and delicate. Closing my fingers around her hand I pulled her to her feet with none too surprising ease.

"Th-Thank you." She muttered in a small quiet voice her face turning a rather adorable shade of pink.

I shook my head and said, "I only helped you up." From my understanding of the situation I was in and last night's events, I had gotten so drunk that I completely forgot what happened after leaving the bar; Willow had found me and somehow taken me to her house where I proceeded to wake up and startle her pretty badly.

"Well thanks for everything." I said heading for the door. I had to get to that forest and I doubted that in my drunken state that I had even made it out of the city. Stupid newbie. I cursed the damn brat and then Thatch for having convinced me to take the challenge.

"Um . . . H-hey where are you going?" The teal haired girl asked in a shaky voice, as if she were still recovering.

"To explore the forest." I swear I had said that a million times already since docking and it hadn't even been a full day.

"D-do you . . . w-want me to show you?" she asked casting her eyes to the floor the moment they made direct contact with mine.

"Show me what? The way to the forest?" I paused. "Nah I can find it."

"N-no. The . . . forest. I uh well I k-kind of know it well. . . Better than anyone else." She wasn't exactly boasting about her knowledge, in fact she seemed a bit embarrassed now that she had spoken out about it.

"Alright! Let's go!" I walked back over to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. Instantly she went stiff under my arm and I looked down at her slightly concerned. I guess she didn't like that or maybe something was wrong? "You ok?" I asked just to make sure, after all I couldn't have my guide drop dead or be mad at me before the tour even started.

She nodded, grabbing my wrist and gently removing my arm from around her shoulders. I must have given her some kind of look that made her feel the need to defend herself because she muttered, "Sorry, personal space." Before walking around me and to the door. She opened it and gestured for me to walk out. So I obliged and stepped outside.

The temperature was nice and there were a lot of tall thick trees with large leaves bigger than average sized umbrellas, heck the leaves could be umbrellas. Some light made its way through those large leaves and shone on the ground. I tried to take as much as I could as fast as I could so we could move on but there was a lot to see. Large hanging vines and plants, climbing ivy and lots of moss.

Willows soft voice pulled me out of my mind with the words, "As y-you can see, w-we're already here."

-Willow-

I so shouldn't be doing this. I had things to do, stones to collect and holes in my house to patch up. I don't even know why I had offered to show him around in the first place. I wasn't the most sociable nor most talkative, I wasn't the best leader and I certainly wasn't about to win the tour guide of the month award. In fact I'd probably just disappointing the boy named Ace.

Closing and locking the door behind me I sighed, once again wondering why I had decided to do this.

Maybe it was his Luffy like excitement- I almost expected him to ask about those beetles. Their excitement and want to explore were so similar- that had made me make that offer to show him around before I could think. Maybe it was the nagging thought that I had found him passed out in the middle of the forest that made me feel as though he should have someone looking out for him or maybe it was something else entirely.

But whatever my reasons I was regretting the decision. I was regretting having spoken up.

"As you can see I live here." I said after giving him a second to take in the scenery, to realize that he was in the forest he was itching oh so badly to see.

After I said those words he turned towards me and using almost the exact same words with an expression almost identical to the one Luffy had worn after hearing the news and asked as though he had to reaffirm my words, "Awesome! You really live here?!" I nodded and he grabbed my wrist and began pulling me along saying, "Let's go. Come on we can't see anything else if we keep standing still."

Why was he reminding me so much of Luffy? I hadn't seen that kid for a few weeks, though he had been in the paper several times since. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Luffy and his crew. They were certainly welcome here anytime they wanted and or needed. Though four crew members and himself, that had been a lot of people and chaos, especially when Luffy himself counted as five to ten toddlers hyped up on candy.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" A questioning voice snapped me back to reality.

"S-sorry." Right, this was show Ace around the forest time. Not reminisce about Luffy and his crew's stay at my house time.

"So you didn't hear me?" He asked, slowing down enough so that I was no longer tripping and stumbling over mostly my own feet and lots of nothingness. I shook my head and decided that it was his fault for reminding me so much of Luffy. "Oh, well I asked where are all of the animals?"

"Most of the . . . creatures . . . th-their nocturnal. The best time to see the forest is at night."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He pouted sounding as though he no longer wanted to see the forest at this time.

I shrugged. "L-look I have something to do. I can show you things on the way if you wish." It was Ace's turn to nod silently and follow me. As we walked I pointed out a few things that I thought might capture his interest, some things that might be considered interesting to him.

"So what were you thinking so deeply about?" He inquired after a few minutes of silence, the sound of a babbling creek getting louder and louder.

"Just . . . stuff." It wasn't really any of his business. I thought as I sat down on the grassy bank of the creek and removed my sandals and took off the messenger bag before rolling up the cuffs of my pants and wading into the deep creek.

Plus what if he were an enemy of Luffy's?

"Oh, that's cool. So what are you doing?" He asked watching me with curiosity that I could almost feel.

"Collecting rocks." I answered looking through the clear water for something.

"What for?" He asked perching on the rock that jutted out the farthest over the water.

"The hole in my house." I answered leaning down and picking up a decent sized rock. After examining it I tossed it at my bag hoping to hit the general vicinity.

"Why do you have a hole in your house? Isn't that a little silly?"

"Someone put it there." I told him. Of course it was silly to have a gaping hole in my house!

"Why'd you let them do that?" Ace asked.

"I didn't realize that they'd want to come in through a solid stone wall." I had a front door for a reason.

"Oh. Sounds like my brother's grandpa. So did you build your house?"

The weird thing about Ace and his twenty questions was that he seemed serious enough when asking them as he perched there watching me walking around the chilly stream and occasionally toss rocks at the growing pile, even though no two rocks hit the same place.

But I guess I could understand how he had reached that conclusion. Unfortunately the idea of me having built my house was absolutely ridiculous. "No, I did not."

"Then who did?"

"My dad." I answered. From what I remembered of him he liked doing hands on things, creating and building things. Things like my house.

The atmosphere changed as he said, "Oh." And for a few minutes it was quiet. The air was almost awkward and tense between us for those few minutes.

It was quite uncomfortable and I was about to say something to try and break it but he beat me to it and resumed his twenty questions.

I found that I didn't really mind them or his company like I did most other people. Maybe it was because he was accepting my short answers and not trying to coax more then I wanted to say out.

"I didn't see any holes. What room has a hole in it?"

"My art studio."

"So you're the artistic introvert? Well I can see that. You're not much of a talker. So can I see your artwork when we return home?"

I shrugged wading out of the water. "I guess." I had nothing to hide and I guess he was going to stick around until tonight. Now I had to cram all of these rocks into my bag. This was my least favorite part of collecting stones for my house because I'd always end up with an armful of rocks and then end up kicking some home because I dropped a few and couldn't pick them up.

-Ace-

Even though Willow was curt and her responses were short I enjoyed talking to her as she collected her rocks for her art studio. I wondered if she was any good at whatever form of art she did.

I watched her push all the rocks towards her bag and then get on her knees and begin to put them in the bag that she had brought with her. I watched her stand and then put the strap over her head before bending over and gathering most of the remaining rocks in her arms. I found it kind of strange that she obviously needed help and though she knew that I was right here watching her that she was refusing to ask for help.

Maybe it was a pride thing. I thought jumping off the rock and taking the bag silently, not offering to help and not asking to help but just did so.

I also collected the rocks from her arms and said. "You forgot your shoes." The looks that I received were priceless. First there was genuine shock, as if she couldn't believe that this was happening and then disbelief as she looked over her shoulder to see that she had indeed left her shoes on the bank.

"Th-thanks." She managed after racing back to her white sandals. They reminded me of Marco's but were white. After putting them back on she resumed her place next to me and said, "But I- I can't let you carry all of those by yourself."

"And why not?" I asked twisting away from Willow's outstretching hands. I could easily handle the weight.

Maybe it wasn't a pride thing with Willow but instead an independence thing. That had to be it.

"Because I just can't. I-I mean I can't let you do all the work while I just meander next to you, empty handed."

"Sure you can. Anyways you've got to show me the way back to your house." Maybe she felt as though she needed to do something. She opened her mouth to argue further but I quickly interrupted her. "I want to do this. Don't worry about it. I'm glad to help." It wouldn't be very funny, nice or polite to watch the girl struggle under the strain of all of the rocks all the way back to her house when I could easily handle it.

Plus if Makino ever heard of this she'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't help.

"At least let me carry one." She pleaded.

"Ok." I said letting her snag a single rock from my arms. I guess she could handle one rock after having somehow managed to carry me to her house by herself. I was still trying to figure out how she had done that.

With Willow having gotten her way she said, "Let's go." As she began walking ahead of me.

It was kind of very disappointing that there wasn't much to the forest during the day. But it was also pretty neat that I had found myself a guide, not that I needed one. But then again I had never had a guide when I explored various islands, so maybe it would be as fun if not more fun than exploring by myself. The more the merrier right?

"You walk fast." I said. Maybe I wouldn't have to slow down that much for Willow tonight.

"Oh . . . I'm sorry." She slowed down and matched her strides to mind.

With her walking next to me I realized that she was about six inches shorter than me and for every single stride I took she took two. "No need to apologize."

"Sorry." She repeated. We chatted; well I did most of the talking until we reached her rather charming stone house with a red front door and shutters on the square windows.

"Come round back." She said leading me around the side of the house.

Reaching the back I saw not only a large gaping hole in the stone wall but also a pile of rocks. The only person I could think that would do such a thing would be Luffy- no scratch that there were a lot of people that I knew would put a hole like that into the thick stone wall but Luffy was the first person to come to mind.

"Right there. You can just add them to the pile." She said dropping her single rock into the pile. After handing her now empty bag back to her she gestured into the room and said, "This is my art studio."

"So you draw?" I asked carefully examining the drawings that so heavily covered the walls that there was almost no stone visible between the sheets of paper. There were some shaded pictures of black white and every shade between. There were other papers covered with bright vivid colors. Different mediums had been used as well as different styles but one piece of paper stood out the most.

It was a nearly blank piece of paper with a red arrow that pointed up and below that arrow were the scrawled words Luffy wuz here.

Smiling I took a few steps towards it and asked, "So you know Luffy?" I noticed that the picture that the arrow was pointing up to was a shaded Hercules beetle in a pair of hands.

"W-what is he to you?" she cautiously asked. I could hear her shifting from her place in the middle of the gaping hole in the wall. She was smart in not only not telling me if she did or didn't know him but also in not answering my question before I revealed my standing with him.

However she didn't need to be so guarded, he was my little brother and that's exactly what I told Willow. The air seemed to instantly relax and I could practically hear the tender smile in her voice. "Yeah, I know him."

"Is he doing well?" As his older brother I had the right to know. Plus with a little brother like him you tend to worry.

"Yeah. He's a big ball of pure energy. Busting through my wall didn't faze him at all." She laughed softly, probably on her way to being lost in the memory.

The sad thing was that I could almost perfectly imagine Luffy crashing in from somewhere. I could see him stand up in the midst of the stone rubble and rising dust, check for his precious straw hat given to him by Shanks and then continue on his way through the house as if he had used the front door like any other normal person, as though he hadn't just crashed through a thick stone wall.

Speaking of Luffy I hoped that whatever crew he had scrounged up was taking good care of him and that he was taking good care of them as well.

I couldn't help but smile as I said, "I'm well aware." Luffy was a lot of things, a pain in the ass was certainly one of those things and there were a lot of ways to describe him and as Willow had said he was definitely a ball of pure energy. "So he's claimed his picture huh?" I was honestly surprised that he hadn't taken it with him when he had left.

"Yeah. He says when he becomes the pirate king that he's going to not only buy all of my artwork but he'd also going to make me his artist." Again I could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke of Luffy. She didn't stammer when she spoke of him and there was a certain fondness in her voice, like a mother talking about her child.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

-Willow-

I didn't know why I was standing here telling Ace these things. After all every word that had left his mouth so far could be a lie, he could be lying. His name, the fact that he was Luffy's brother, everything, it could all be lies. With strangers it was never impossibility. And as much as I enjoyed Ace's company he was still a stranger to me, one that I had met just today not even an hour ago.

"So he's already claimed you?" he asked. I began trying to deny that I had been claimed by Luffy but he paid no mind to my protests and added, "Well that's no fair." Before he turned away from the picture depicting the beetle in Luffy's hands and the paper under that which was his claim to that picture. He had told me that he only reason that he had left it with me was that it was his promise that he'd be back for his future artist.

"E-excuse me?" I asked wondering if I had heard him right. Surely I hadn't. Why would he say such a thing to me anyways?

"Is he doing well?" Ace continued on as if what he had just said wasn't weird at all, as though we hadn't already been over this. But it was kind of cute that he was so concerned about Luffy that he had forgotten that we had.

I nodded unable to help but smile. Luffy had made a fool out of the pirates that thought that they were big and bad and could rule our island, and he hadn't even killed them! "Yeah. He's a great kid." I informed Ace as though he wasn't already aware of this fact.

He nodded with a quiet, "Yeah. But he sure does make a big brother worry."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. Worry, that word with Luffy and his antics that must be an understatement.

I was about to say something when there was a long and loud half gurgling half growling sound. When it finally ended we stared at each other for a few minutes in complete silence.

Unsure of myself I asked, "W-was that y-your stomach?" I didn't even know that a stomach could growl that loudly!

Ace reached up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly and then admitted that yes, that noise had indeed been his stomach.

"Are hungry?" I asked.

He gave me this 'why else would my stomach be making these noises?' look as the words accompanied the look I was receiving.

"W-would you like to eat in town?" I nervously asked him. I didn't really want to go and I didn't really want to spend the money plus nothing good ever came out of me going into town for anything other than what I needed. But I only had enough food for me to have two and a half meals for a little under a week and judging by that growl that came from his stomach that wasn't going to be enough for the both of us.

"Yes please." He eagerly said with a nod of his head.

I didn't know if I should be offended by his eagerness to go out and take it as an insult to me and my cooking or if I should just drop it. After a little battle I decided to drop it. The boy was probably so hungry that he didn't really care where- and most likely what- he ate as long as he ate. Plus he had said please.

I wet my lips hoping that this wasn't a mistake before saying, "Alright, let's go." We did have quite a lot of time to kill before dark and walking to town, eating and walking back would certainly kill lots of that time.

Without a seconds thought of my personal space he linked our arms together and pulled me to the door and opening it said, "Ladies first." The fashion in which he said it with a little bow and a smile, reminded me of Sanji. Ace closed the door behind up and off to town we went.

-Ace-

Willow had a certain confidence about her as she walked us through the awesome forest. So far this having a guide thing was working out well. I even got a free meal!

We chatted and she even laughed a few times and they weren't nervous laughs or laughs of surprise but because she actually found something funny on the way there. Or she did until we reached the outskirts of town.

There the change was dramatic. She seemed to lose all confidence and her answers and responses were either really short- as in one word short- or just mute nods and shakes of her head.

When I asked where we were going she said, "Ocean View Diner." But that was it. There was no farther elaboration on how good it was, how much more of a walk it was or anything else of the sorts, she had just answered and that had been that.

Quietly her and slipped into mind but I was sure that she was unaware of the action as she wove her way around the freestanding square tables in the middle of the room and back to a corner booth.

We sat there for a few minutes before menus were distributed to us and a voice said, "Hey. I thought we saw you walk in here Willow." When I looked up I expected to see on person, one waitress. Not two nearly identical ones standing side by side. Looking back and forth between the girls and Willow I wondered if they knew her because she had stopped staring down into her lap or at the no longer empty tabletop.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you're here so late." The other one said more discrete about the way she was looking me over. "I bet it has something to do with him right?" She asked the tip of her tongue skimming over her thin lips.

Maybe they were used to Willows quietness because if not the one with the shortest hair was being quite rude to her when she asked, "So where did you manage to find this handsome hunk?"

By the looks I was receiving I think it was safe for me to assume that they thought Willow had somehow picked me up at a bar or something like that. I was honestly surprised when Willow answered her question. Granted the answer was only two short words but it was the most I had heard her speak since coming into the city.

"The forest." Was all she offered the curious twins.

"This . . . thing came out of that forest?" One of them laughed as the other picked up where she had stopped.

"He must be a lost traveler or something." Though she didn't say it the tone spoke for itself, silently adding, 'why else would she have found him in the forest?' to the end of her sentence.

"I'm a pirate." I informed them. I had not been a lost traveler. As it turned out I had been exactly where I had wanted to be, so I hadn't been lost. Maybe I had been a bit dazed and confused but that was where i wanted to be.

"So are you going to introduce us Willow?"

At that she seemed to come alive, stammering over just about every word that she spoke. "Oh . . . um Evalyn, Ava, this is Ace. Ace, this is Evalyn and Ava, the twins. We'll both take waters to drink."

She ordered our drinks before I could stop her and before I could protest the girls pocketed their pads of paper, said that they'd have those right out and over their shoulders as they walked away said, "Oh and try not to bore the cutie to death would you Willow?"

"Why water?" I asked. Jeez even juice would have been better, or hell soda. I bet this place didn't sell any good alcohol.

"It's free." She said sliding the menu away from her muttering about how she already knew what she wanted.

"Oh and what is that?" I asked skimming over my menu.

I swear I might shoot her if she said a salad. Girls need to eat too! I hated it when i went out with a girl for a meal and then they didn't eat.

But my eyes stopped on an entree that was titled Willow's special. So now the artistic introvert had meals named after her?! While reading it and listening to her describe her usual at the same time I realized that it didn't sound half bad. I mean I wanted to order the entire menu and then run but I doubted that she'd be able to keep up with me unless I of course threw her over my shoulder.

Because I needed my guide for tonight I couldn't end up losing her in the process of a dine and dash.

So because of that I was forced to ditch both plans and ordered an extra-large fry.

Once our orders were in and the twins had left once again I asked, "So do you live alone?" I supposed that was kind of a stupid question to ask but you never know when it comes to people and parents. Maybe her mother worked days on end in town and maybe her father at an entirely different island most of the year leaving her alone often. They weren't currently on good terms with each other.

"Yeah I do."

"Don't tell me that you don't get lonely." Jeez shy or not she probably didn't get out enough or have enough fun or go to enough parties. Hell she probably didn't know the joy of a good party.

She shook her head. "Believe me or don't, that's your choice, but I like my seclusion." She paused then asked, "So are you really a pirate?" She did seem to be a bit dubious of my previous statement but she didn't seem shocked or angry at the idea. And despite the slight doubt she seemed calm enough, as though the idea didn't really frighten her. Yet me suddenly waking up had.

I nodded. "Yup. So where are your parents?" She hadn't told me that they had died in ditches so they were probably still alive right?

"Six feet under Ace. But unless you wish to talk about your parents, your father to be more specific, in turn for me talking about mine, then I wouldn't keep asking about them." She growled in a quiet tone.

I have to say I was shocked that that had just come from her and I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who had the privilege of hearing it as well her voice was so low and quiet.

"Uh . . . ok." I agreed. I guess that was a touchy subject with her as well. "Fair enough." I completely understood not wanting to hand out information about your parents to random people and I certainly wasn't about to tell her about my father- guess she had picked up on that earlier today- unless she wanted me to talk about Pops. Man I could talk about the old man all day.

When plates were set down in front of us we tanked the twins in unison and while Willow took time to cut her burger in half before eating it, I began devouring mine. "This is good." I said not slowing down or waiting to swallow my current bite.

"Um . . . A-Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"You- you do realize th-that your food is going nowhere right? No one's going to steal it or start trying to kill you or something like that. Please slow down. That is really unhealthy for you to eat so fast."

I nodded and slowed down but not that much. It probably wasn't enough to appease the teal haired girl but this burger was close to one of the best burgers I had ever eaten.

"Are you going to eat that?" I asked pointing to re remaining half of her burger as I finished mine. We had ordered the exact same thing and she wasn't sick or riddled with diseases- that I could tell anyway- and I couldn't let that half of a burger go to waste. But before she could answer me I asked, "Can I have it?"

Instead of a verbal answer and simply pushed the basket away from her and closer to me. With a word of thanks I devoured it in less than a minute. Gulping down the last bite I thanked her again and struck up a small conversation as she waited for the bill. I tried to talk about her friends and likes, to coax longer answers out of her so that I wasn't having a one sided conversation. I tried to stay away from the subject of her parents and closer to things that I figured would be ok for her to talk about.

But despite me trying to keep the conversation on her the topic that she seemed to be the most comfortable talking about was Luffy and the straw hats.

She went into great detail about how he had saved her island from a group of pirates. And when I asked her to describe the crew he had accumulated she happily obliged. After that I found myself talking about when we were kids and all of the random things we had done.

But I can't remember exactly which memories I had or hadn't told her about.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

-Willow-

Ace was fun to talk to but all of the sudden, while in the middle of talking about how he hadn't liked Luffy at first, his head dropped down into the basket before him. The one that was filled with ketchup and a few remaining fries.

"H-hello?" I nervously asked as Evalyn and Ava put the check on the table, telling me to pay whenever I was ready to do so.

"Is he dead?" Ava skeptically asked examining him.

While Evalyn just laughed and said, "Wow Willow you really did bore him to death."

"He- he's not dead." I wanted to say the words with confidence but my voice came out shaky, unsure and I even stammered.

For a few minutes they stood and I sat there, all three of us waiting for some kind of response.

Was he even breathing? Eventually though he bolted upright and said, "Sabo and I tried so hard to get rid of the little bastard but. . ." I let out a sigh a relief as both twins fell back with a single screech of surprise.

Ace looked bewildered at them with a huge glob of ketchup smudged on his forehead. "What happened?" He asked looking from the twins and then to me as though I might have an exclamation.

"You . . . well you . . ." I didn't know how to describe what had happened so I just imitated what he had done earlier today. I just dropped my head for a second before looking up and handing him a napkin. Pointing at my own cheek I hope he'd figure out that there was something on his face.

Unfortunately my patience wore out as he gave me this blank look. I leaned over the table and couldn't help but feel like a mother wiping food off of her child's face. Oddly enough I had a feeling that my said child was older than me.

"Aaaawwww." One of the twins crooned as I sat back on the bench, my face warming up at that.

"She's blushing." The other twin said as Ace said thanks with a rather shy smile, looking rather embarrassed.

And this guy called himself a pirate. I had yet to see any pirate like qualities in him; well maybe eating like his life depended on it and I had found him passed out drunk in the middle of a forest and- ok so maybe he did in fact have some pirate like qualities but he still had manners.

Maybe I'd manage to remember to ask whose crew he belonged to at a later time.

"Hey, it's almost dark out." Ace said, my wrist was suddenly grabbed and I was pulled out of both the booth and then the restaurant.

Along the way through the restaurant and to the edge of the forest I ended up tripping over everything, starting at the legs of the chairs in the middle of the diner. Tripping over my own feet and then the threshold of the door followed. After that was the curb and then a few cracks in the street and after that absolutely nothing at all.

"A-A-Ace. . .slow d-down." I gasped. He was running and I was the poor person in tow. I was getting dragged along like a child's blanket or their favorite toy.

Unfortunately he don't obey until we reached his destination which was the edge of the forest. But finally he let me and my wrist go and when he did I stood there trying to sound mad as I asked, "W-what . . . was th-that . . . for?" But there was more fatigue in my tone than there was anger.

Suddenly two hands were placed on my shoulders and were pushed back so that I was no longer hunched over with my hands on my knees but facing him. And then I was earnestly asked, "You're not about to die are you?" He not only sounded concerned but I was a bit taken aback by the intensity in his eyes too.

"N-no, not about to die. Just let me catch my breath." I guess Ace was REALLY excited about that forest, which was understandable.

But jeez I think he's a bit too excited. I mean yeah it was a pretty awesome forest but he didn't know a single thing about what made it so awesome yet. "Anyway it-it's not d-dark enough." The sun had set, that much was true. But it had to be dark, the stars out and the creatures having awaken from their daily slumbers and have gotten up. And Ace hadn't given them enough time. That and I still needed to catch my breath.

He suddenly deflated with a quiet, crestfallen, half whined, half pouted, "Really?"

I grabbed his wrist and sat down, pulling him down next to me. "Yes really. But the wait will be well worth it." I hoped that he'd feel the same way when I showed him the forest and its hidden secrets.

"Really?" He asked the same question but in a completely different way, with a different tone and expression. This time he sounded both hopeful but dubious. As though he didn't believe me.

"Yes really. Think you can wait?" I asked.

He appeared thoughtful, as though he had to really think about the answer before vigorously nodding.

-Ace-

I was about ten minutes away from dying of boredom when Willow moved my head out of her lap before standing and facing the dark line of massive trees. She cupped her small hands around her mouth before making some kind of strange cry.

"Whoa!" I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been startled by that. I had not seen that coming. "What was that?!" I asked standing as well.

I couldn't believe that a noise like that had come from that mouth. But no matter how much I pestered and questioned her about what that sound was for she'd only smile and quietly shush me with her arm held out as if she were expecting something to land on it.

My efforts were bearing no fruits which sucked. But all of the sudden there was the loud flutter and flurry of wings that seemed to come out of nowhere before the noise settled and the silence returned. And when it did my name was quietly called. When I looked at Willow I saw this huge black bird with white speckles, beady eyes and sharp claws resting on her shoulder.

"Uh you're bleeding." I felt stupid because there was no way that she wasn't aware of that fact. I mean those claws were digging into her shoulders and her shirt was becoming stained, but she looked unfazed, unhurt despite the blood.

"Stroke its chest." She whispered to me, fondly running a single finger down the front of its body.

Was the bird purring? I wondered as I reached forwards and hesitantly did as I was told. Its chest was vibrating like that of a purring cat.

How strange.

"No, don't stop." Willow said when I began to drop my hand. "Not yet at least." She added. So I obeyed and not a few whole minutes later she whispered, "It's asleep." Before she reached up and pried open its beak. Once open the dark line of trees before us were bathed in a soft yellowish light.

I laughed. That was cool, I had never seen a bird do that before.

And where was that light coming from? I wondered trying to look down its throat, maybe it had swallowed a flashlight. Unfortunately I couldn't see the source of light. That was so strange. Most definitely one of the strangest things that I've ever seen and I've seen a hell of a lot of strange weird and awesome things. This bird was certainly near the middle of the list of weirdest things I've ever seen on both the Grand Line and in the New World.

"You know what Luffy did when he saw the bird?" Willow asked taking the first step into the forest with me close on her heels.

I had a feeling though that if I said that I didn't care and to shut up about Luffy- which I would never do- then she'd actually shut up. However I wanted to know what Luffy had been up to. The papers after all weren't the most accurate or reliable things and most of the time he was the bad guy.

I shook my head, giving up. "No, what did he do?" But I actually cared what Luffy had done, I wanted to know and even if she decided that she no longer wanted to tell me then I'd make her tell me.

"He ordered Usopp, his inventor/sniper, to build him a cage- no several cages. In the end he wanted one for every awesome animal he saw and that he thought was cool." She laughed. "And that was just about every animal."

Somehow that didn't surprise me in the least and I even ended up saying the last two words in unison with Willow.

She stopped us several times, shining the light on many strange animals and subtle things that I wouldn't have noticed on my own. Most of the strange animals glowed in some way, shape and or form.

The paw prints of a small fat cat thing that could walk through things glowed. The eyes of lemur like creatures that hung upside down in groups by ringed tails were not only large but also literally luminous. Even the ants and flying insects, some of which I recognized from a few drawings, glowed as well.

The veins of the plants glowed illuminating the leaves and petals. It was no wonder Luffy wanted to take all of this home. And though it all glowed we still needed the constant, non-moving, non-flicking, twitching or blinking light of the bird.

And despite the sound of us walking, the sounds of the animals and light breeze it was mostly quiet between us unless Willow wanted to point something out.

Having a guide was kind of fun. Not the dangerous, adrenaline rush, half drunken, wild and blurry kind of fun. Not the life threatening fun but instead the relaxed kind of fun that I hadn't had in a while.

"Pst Ace." She said breaking me away from trying to determine if the meandering thing with different colored glowing spikes was a porcupine or not because I had a strong suspicion that it was indeed what I thought it was.

"Huh?" Was it me or were the trees and their limbs moving? But I didn't ask because I felt stupid just thinking it.

She mentioned me through a bush and then into a clearing and pointed up whispering, "Watch." Looking up I was that above us were large closed up black pinecones. "These are my favorite flower in the forest."

"Flowers?" I asked skeptical. Pinecones didn't produce flowers. Pine trees, maybe but not flowers.

"Y-yes please don't laugh at me." She whispered in a nervous tone of voice.

"Why would I-" I began to ask but at that moment Willow chose to start singing up to the pinecones. "laugh?" I finished my question after a pause. Who the hell would laugh at a voice like that? I mean it wasn't the best voice I had ever heard, and I could easily think of when I had heard better. But it was still quite nice to listen to.

Light fingers under my chin lifted my head until I was no longer gaping at her but at the pinecones above us. The pinecone things were beginning to peel and curl away from the actual structure and started to glow. Her singing voice stopped and when I looked at her she was tucking hair behind her ear and muttering something about her mother and how she had showed her that trick when she was little.

After a long pause she walked over to the lowest hanging one and snapped it off its vine before motioning me over to her. She explained that it would no longer glow after it dried up, that it would die now like any other plant. Both the vine and the stem were bleeding electric blue from where she had snapped them apart. Once again I was surprised but this time by a giggle and sudden darkness.

"Aaaahhhh." Her voice said from my right and when I turned towards her all I saw was a glowing, bright blue tongue, more faded mouth and even glowing blue teeth.

"Whoa! Let me try that!" I wanted my mouth to glow too!

"Here. Your saliva will wash it away later." Willow explained that my mouth would not permanently glow blue at night that it would not forever glow like I had been hoping. "If you consume enough you'll be able to see your veins." She added.

Oooh that sounded cool as well! Maybe I spoke aloud again or maybe Luffy had been the reason that she knew but either way she said, "It'll also poison you in three days. If you don't get immediate attention or if the antidote isn't ready within those three days you're dead."

I stopped grabbing for the cluster of flowers when Willow said that. I didn't want to be poisoned and then die all over having glowing veins.

Now that I thought about it how would I even see my glowing veins anyway?

But maybe I could put the stuff in the crew's laundry and at night have all of our clothing glow! That would a pretty cool thing to see, just a bunch of floating articles of clothing. But then again no one would even notice because thick canopies didn't block out the starlight or the moon. Aww well that sucked.

She laughed, most likely at my expression at having two good plans fail before I could even act them out. "Sorry. But Luffy almost killed himself that way and I kind of like you. Plus I don't want to be charged with murder or have your crew coming to kill me because you killed yourself."

I smiled and said, "I like you too." Her company was quiet but not uncomfortable or awkward or tense, it just was. And that was enjoyable for now.

"Come on let's head back home."

"But-" I felt like a child who didn't want to go to bed, or didn't want to leave the candy section of a store. I wasn't ready to 'go back home' this forest was so cool. I could explore it for several nights straight.

"Please." She quietly asked opening the beak of the bird and shining the light to guide us back.

I didn't really give up; I just gave in when I realized that I had two weeks to explore the island, more specifically this forest at night.

"Hey is your shoulder going to be ok?" I asked looking over my shoulder into the slightly illuminated darkness behind us. I felt like we were being stalked by many pairs of eyes at once. If I strained my ears enough I could hear quiet growling. But it seemed that Willow didn't hear the growling so I ignored it as well, closely following her in case something jumped out at us.

I couldn't let some man eating vicious thing eat my guide!

I made the mistake of relaxing when the house was in sight. There were only a few meters between her house and us. Willow's house was in a small clearing that would have allowed the sunlight in if it had been daytime.

We were so close to that red door, the cozy living room. She paused and looked over her shoulder at me with a small shy smile. "I hope you managed to enjoy tonight. I'm sure you wanted to do more exciting things . . ." she trailed off tucking a strand of that teal hair back behind her ear. "Sorry I'm not really the best person you could have had but I still-"

A large snarling blur missed me by inches, drowning out the rest of Willow's sentence. As it flew past me a shrill scream in the form of my name reached my ears.

I smiled, whispered, "Mera mera no me." and lit my hands on fire. It was about time for some action.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

I realized that the snarling fur ball was a wolf. A snarling wolf with its hackles raised, its fur puffed out and its teeth bared at me. Like most of the animals of the forest it had a feature that glowed. And for the wolf it was the fur along its back and was the most normal creature I could honestly say that I had seen tonight.

Seconds after skidding to a stop, having missed its target, the wolf lunged at me again. Aiming straight for the kill, straight for my throat.

I reared back with a fireball in my hand and was about to throw it when something attacked me from my side, tackling me to the ground. We rolled around on the ground for a while, snapping twigs and ignoring the other wolves that had silently slunk out of the shadows when I was preoccupied with the first wolf.

I was surprised when I got the upper hand relatively quickly and easily. Just like before I pulled back a fist with a fireball spinning in my palm completely prepared to slam it into the squirming body beneath mine until I saw that the body that I was pinning to the ground wasn't that of a glowing wolf but instead that of Willow. She had her green eyes tightly closed with her face turned slightly away from me and her long straight hair was fanned out around her head.

"Willow?" I asked not only surprised but also kind of mad at her. "Hey, you could have gotten hurt." She was supposed to have run inside. She was supposed to have gone into the house and have left me to take care of the attacking wolf.

"L-let me h-handle this p-please." She stammered slowly cracking open her eyes.

"Why the hell would I do that?" I asked. There was no way in hell that I was about to let this soft and defenseless girl get herself slaughtered, not if I could help it.

"B-because you-you're an unfamiliar s-scent."

"What?" What did scents have to do with anything?

"I'll show you, j-just let me up please." She began once again struggling weakly under me.

"No." one of the last things I wanted to see was that wolf sink its teeth into the girl beneath me and then proceed to dismember her.

"Ace please." She begged. "The moment you're off of me they'll attack you, the entire pack next time. Alright?"

"Fine fine." The moment they attacked her or even made a move to do so was the moment they would no longer be a threat. The least I could for my guide was protect her. So I got up off of Willow, helped her up and watched as she slowly but confidently approached the wolf that had attacked me.

Was she out of her mind?!

-Willow-

Dammit! The night had been going so well, so smoothly and was so close to coming to a nice peaceful close.

I could feel Ace's eyes on me from the moment I had stepped towards the alpha and away from him. I held my hand out as I approached him. I knew why they had attacked and I should have seen this coming. While the wolves didn't mind strangers in the forest this was their territory. And though I was welcome Ace wasn't, he was invading the space that they had allowed my mom, dad and I to live on. The fact that they were out meant that the night was only hours from ending and that the fog was due to start settling in.

The larger than the rest alpha lifted hits wet nose up into my hand before I ran a hand back over its snout and through its thick fur before stopping at on its ears and began scratching. It barked, startling the bird out of unconsciousness and with a cry it flew off, leaving us in darkness.

But that darkness only lasted for a few seconds because a flickering light appeared behind me, casting long flickering shadows.

I dropped to my knees in front of the alpha and it began licking at my shoulder, at the spots of blood on my shirt from the had been sleeping bird. When the alpha began doing that I told Ace that it was fine and to come over to the two of us after putting his fire away. It didn't take long for my eyes to adjust to the dark, to be able to make out the wolf before me and the shadowy figures around us.

Cautiously he did as I asked but the caution showed in his demeanor and how ready he was to attack. I sighed and said, "Relax but show confidence." It was something that my dad had taught me about the wolves and how to be accepted by them. As Ace got nearer the alpha began growling but I told Ace to keep advancing and to hold out one of his hands.

I turned back towards the wolf and said, "Ace is my friend. Remember Luffy? Well their brothers. He won't hurt you."

"Have you gone mad Willow?! That damn dog doesn't know what you're saying." Ace shouted at me.

"Ace! Do-do you want your face eaten off?" If he kept talking like that then the alpha would attack him again and then he wouldn't be very welcome here, not at night at least.

"I'm a logia type." I was informed as if I was supposed to know what the heck a logia type was supposed to mean.

"So? Logia type or not you're a threat in their eyes at the moment. Your tone and aura are all threatening to them and their territory. You said that you're a pirate right?" I asked. He answered and then tried to say more but I quickly interrupted him, being quite rude as I did so. "Then think of it this way. They've invading your ship, waters, island, whatever and they're threatening you whatever they just invaded. How would you react to that?"

"I'd beat them." He said confidently enough.

"Exactly."

Either Ace finally saw the light or decided to stop arguing because he closed the space between him and the alpha and waited to be accepted.

I knelt there nervously and as I waited decided to stand. The growling had stopped and it was silent for a moment before the wolf threw back its head and let out a long howl. Ace looked around confused before leaning towards me and asking in a whisper, "What does that mean?"

I laughed and like I was a kid howled with them before leaning towards him and answered his question. "Come on try it. It's unbelievably fun."

And with that Ace joined in with a large smile and a small chuckle. I bet he thought that I was silly, that this was ridiculous but he was smiling as widely as I was so it meant that he had to be enjoying himself too right?

As suddenly as they appeared they shrunk back into the shadows and we were allowed to enter my house without further ado.

"So that my friend was the Forest of Lights." I said. I was ready to collapse in bed and to fall into a deep sleep. But we ended up sitting in the living room. Ace perched in the armchair and I was lying on the couch.

We ended up staying up and chatting until he had another one of those sleep attack things.

Sunlight woke me and I sat up with a jerk.

Crap, when had I fallen asleep? I wondered rubbing at my eyes and looking around my empty living room.

"Ace?" I called wondering when I had gotten up and grabbed a blanket from the linen closet and dragged it to the couch. I couldn't even remember having fallen asleep. "Ace?" I repeated the sleep draining from my voice and mind as I stood up.

Maybe he had decided to take a shower. So that's where I first looked but I didn't find him there. Looking around some more I said, "Hey, this isn't v-very funny you know?" But after searching my entire house twice I came to a stop at the middle of my living room. "Jerk." I muttered crossly with a frown. "You could have at least said bye."

Classic Ace. I thought almost bitterly. I thought that he'd at least say that he would be off and then thank me for showing him around because that how he had been yesterday, all mannerful and stuff. I hadn't taken him as the type to leave when someone was sleeping.

But then again he was a pirate . . . or so he claimed. I heaved a sigh but even then I had a few questions of my own to ask him, like whose crew he was on and how exactly he had spontaneously combusted last night?

With a frustrated shake of my head I decided to make breakfast reminding myself that he was a stranger and a pirate and therefore someone I shouldn't get overly concerned about. That he was someone who could take care of himself; if I should be concerned about anybody it should be Luffy, that foolish boy.

After eating I grabbed my bag and a change of clothes and headed towards the stream nearest to my house, the one that I had taken all of the good stones out of.

Rock collecting just wasn't as fun as yesterday. In fact I felt a little twinge of that loneliness that I usually didn't feel as I headed back.

But I quickly pushed that thought from my mind and got to work mixing my own cement before beginning to build up the wall of my art studio in silence that humming didn't even seem to be able to get rid of.

Around nightfall I called it quits and ate dinner before grabbing my charcoal and a sketchpad.

Stepping out of my house I called the bird from last night and let it rest on my shoulder, its claws digging into the exact same places. Once lulled to sleep and producing light I began walking until I found something that I wanted to draw and began sketching.

-Ace-

Ok so I shouldn't have left Willow's house in the middle of the night after a narcoleptic attack because while I could have enjoyed a nice comfy armchair I ended up camping out- unwillingly of course. I had been making my way back towards the city when I had yet another narcoleptic attack and had actually fallen asleep during that one.

I woke up to something growling and that something was my stomach.

I hoped up and said to myself, "Time for breakfast!" before getting the hell out of that forest, though I'd be back tonight and every other night until Pops was ready to leave this island in a few weeks. I wound up at the place that Willow had taken me to last night, the place with the really good burgers. Entering the establishment I licked my lips hungrily at the smell of syrup, bacon and coffee.

The smell was absolutely heavenly and my stomached agreed with me by growling not even two steps in.

When I sat down the twins from last night made a b-line towards my table. They asked me what they could cook for me today and I told them exactly what I wanted with these obviously fake smiles. It was kind of creepy but I proceeded to order everything off the menu give or take a few things.

"E-Excuse me?" the twin with the longer hair asked as if she hadn't heard me correctly.

"Did we just hear you correctly?" the other one asked looking confused.

I nodded. Why did everyone have such qualms about me getting everything off the menu? Did I have to be fat to enjoy food? My stomach was growling oh so loudly so maybe I needed two of everything. When I voiced that one of the twins nearly fainted.

The other just said, "My my Mr. Pirate don't you have one monster of an appetite." After a pause and a look at her sister she tucked the pad of paper into the apron around her waist and said, "We'll start you off with the appetizers when their ready alright?"

I nodded and grabbed an abandoned newspaper off a nearby table and opened it.

As they walked away I heard one of them say "I'm surprised that Willow even let him out of her sight."

"Well it's no surprise with him claiming to be a pirate after all. He's sure to ruin her good rep." There was a bit of laughter. And as they waited on other tables I half listened in on their conversation hand half skimmed over the paper.

"I know she's such a good doer. The pirate probably realized how dull she is and ditched her the first opportunity that was offered to him." They made their rounds, entered the kitchen and then came back out with three other people following them; all five of them were carrying steaming plates of food. And all of that food was sat on my table before me.

After the quickest word of thanks I could muster I dug in.

Not an hour later I sat back done eating and done listening to the girls who I had originally been under the impression were Willow's friends. Damn I had been wrong about that and I think Willow was as well.

Looking around I quickly got up and calmly walked out before bolting with a smile. That had not only been a fantastic meal but it had also been easy, oh so easy.

After that I meandered around town with nothing in mind to do, with no real destination. And for a while I was perfectly content in doing so.

But when the warm breezy day started to get to me I began searching for a good place to take a nap, a place where I wouldn't be bothered. And eventually I found the perfect place on the beach against a cool rock. Leaning back against it I adjusted my hat over my eyes and dozed off.

When I woke up it was once again because of my stomach and so I grabbed a quick bite to eat before running back into the Forest of Lights once again, this time without my guide.

I had lots of fun by myself that night and morning came far too soon.

It was a good thing that Pops had to stay here for two weeks. I didn't even know why Pops needed or wanted to stay here on this island for two weeks but whatever the reason I didn't really care.

As I walked around town in search of Marco so that I could have a drinking buddy when I went into one of the many bars Willow's name reached my ears a lot which I found was strange for such a quiet and relatively shy girl. And the things I was hearing about her were neither remotely true nor very kind.

"Hey!" I shouted running to catch up to the familiar head of blonde. When I reached him I put my arm around his shoulders like Thatch had done to me and said, "Join me in getting a drink." Fortunately for me he didn't protest as I turned down a street with a bar advertising the best something or other on the Grand Line. "Wanna have a contest" I asked with a smile but was quickly turned down with a stern no.

Humph. What was so wrong with a contest? Was a little friendly competition going to hurt anyone? I think not. But I dropped it at that raising the glass to my mouth and taking a large gulp.

That hit the spot.

So for a while Marco and I conversed and drank at the bar. People came and went, time passed and our glasses were filled, emptied and refilled a few times.

The empty seat beside me became occupied but I paid the person no mind even as a voice asked, "So you're the forest whores newest interest?"

Because there was no way the owner of that voice was speaking to me. So I continued my conversation with Marco.

"You're the pirate who had dinner with her before she took you home two nights ago right?" he paused and now I knew that he was talking to me. I held up a finger to put our conversation on hold as the voice continued. "But let me tell you something pirate," he spat the word in the venomous, unwelcoming way that I along with most other pirates were quite familiar with. ", she's mine and if I can't have her no one can."

I rolled my eyes at the idiot and turned to face him. The owner of the trying to sound threatening voice was a blonde haired hazel eyed guy about my age or a bit older.

"Yeah we had dinner and yeah she took me back home but I don't recall her having ever mentioned anyone like you." I could feel Marco's questioning look at my back. But I ignored it as I flashed the guy a smile just to piss him off even more. I had already evaluated him and by the looks of it he wasn't dangerous or any more harmful than a fly, something that I could easily take care of.

So pissing him off would only harm him and provide some entertainment for me. A win-win situation.

It seemed that my words and the added smile worked like a charm because he slammed his glass down onto the bar wasting about half of the glass of whatever he had ordered before demanding for me to repeat myself. I obliged happily seeing how mad he already was.

He turned an amusing shade of red in the face and reared back with a closed fist and threw the first punch. It was easy to read, evade and counter but where would the fun in that be?

The best part of bar fights was when their weapons of choice or their elbows, knees, feet and or fists passed through my body. Their expressions of surprise fear and sometimes even recognition were always absolutely priceless.

Not ten minutes and one good punch later and there was a new entrance/exit in the wall of the bar and the fight was over. Unfortunately I wasn't able to celebrate my easily won, could hardly be called one, victory because I got kicked out. Fortunately though Marco followed me out instead of staying at that bar.

"Who's Willow?" Marco lazily inquired behind me as he picked his way through the rubble and out onto the street where I began looking for a new bar to pay a visit to.

Looks like I had been right but he was probably thinking all the wrong things about her and who she was and probably what we had done last night if he had heard that last part. I shoved my hands into my pockets and said, "According to that guy the Forest Whore." I didn't even know who that guy was, how he knew about me and that Willow had gone out a few nights ago or why my words had made him so upset.

"So she's some kind of prostitute?" He said but I couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief as I said, "Not at all." Before we walked into another bar. I couldn't imagine Willow as a prostitute or anything like that. She's probably too self-conscious.

One hour, several bars and a few bar fights later and Marco suggested that we stopped moving on to different bars once we got kicked out of the most recent one.

And I agreed.

I knew that word spread fast but the more absurd things I heard about Willow the more I found myself bashing in faces, knocking out teeth and punching out some lights. I even scorched a few people for her because I knew that even if she heard the things that they were saying she wouldn't do anything for herself.

The words Forest Whore just kept echoing inside my head as I was led to where the crew was staying. They had taken over a hotel near the beach and were congregating in an unclaimed room and were in the midst of a card game.

As we passed by the doorway of the room we were welcomed in, greetings were exchanged and then Marco and I were sucked into the game.

We soon found out that the game was strip poker.

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A/N: I want to thank all of the people who have already reviewed. Like most authors they really encourage me to continue writing and whatnot.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	7. Chapter 7

7

-Willow-

I pulled my hair out of the ribbon that held it back out of my face, Took off the apron and put away my paints before I took a step back and examined the oil painting.

It was ok in my opinion. In the midst of color, lines and chaos a distinct pair of eyes stood out, drawing the focus back to them even as you tried to look at the other parts of the painting.

I wiped my brow trying to figure out why the heck I had drawn that of all things before leaving it in my nearly finished art studio. I cleaned myself up and decided to go to sleep for the night. It was early and I should probably go out and collect more stones for the not quite finished wall but I didn't feel like it and there was always tomorrow. So I turned changed into more comfy clothing and went to bed.

Much later I was awoken by loud pounding and my door banging nosily open.

I looked around my room before quickly and quietly slipping out of my bed and searching for something that could be used as a weapon incased I needed it.

But after finding nothing I crept out of my room as a voice loudly shouted, "HEEELLLLOOOOOOO?! Anyone Hoome?!" at that I straightened up out of my crouching crawl and went to my living room. "Oh there you are!" the voice happily exclaimed before my wrist was grabbed and I was being dragged towards my door.

"Ace what are you doing? B-better yet where are we going?" I asked struggling against his strong grip around my wrist and digging my heels into my floor to try and stop his full of pep steps from getting any closer to my door. I haven't seen the guy in a few days and this is how he greets me. Plus it was the middle of the night . . . I think.

"I'm going to show you how to live." Was all he said as we reached my door despite my efforts.

With a frown I began struggling harder, hoping to manage to break free this time. "I already know how to live. I'm living right n-now." Anyway what did he mean show me how to live?

"No, you just survive." He stopped suddenly and faced me as I stumbled into his chest. God he was solid. He didn't even budge or take even part of a step back. "Don't the things they say bother you?" he asked me.

"Of- of course they do." I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. The crazy, absurd and false things they had branded me as reached my ears. Their loud whispers, accusing stares and glares and their pointing fingers didn't get past me and sometimes despite my best efforts to ignore it, to shrug it all off and let everything roll off like oil does water, it still bothered me.

"Well we're going to prove those assholes wrong." He said with a determined nod of his head.

But I just laughed at him unable to help myself. "All of the good deeds in the world wouldn't change their opinions of me." I had tried to be nice, to smile in their faces, to pretend that I didn't know that they were using me and taking advantage of me, talking the moment they thought I was out of earshot. And sometimes I didn't even get that far.

"You don't know that." Ace said but before I could argue with him he continued on, "And besides if good deeds don't work then why not try 'bad' deeds?" How would bad deeds fix anything? "Anyway living isn't about good or bad, life couldn't care less about that. It's about living your life to its fullest and enjoying it as much as you can. You can't let what people say about you keep you down."

And this man was calling himself a pirate. God he sounded more like a philosophy professor or Cato.

"I like my life as it is now Ace."

"But you don't love it." He argued with me.

"Besides my artwork there's nothing for me to live for Ace. Those damn Cobie Pirates killed my father and those so called justice enforcing marines killed my moth-"

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself Willow." Ace growled at me. "We're going to and I'm going to make sure you're going to learn how to enjoy life to its fullest before I leave." I opened my mouth to say something but he quickly interrupted me.

This time I think it was on purpose.

"And if you need something to live for then live for me. Or if that's not enough since I'm a bit of a stranger and all then live for Luffy. You're going to be his artist right?"

I mutely nodded wondering why he seemed so . . . upset wasn't exactly the right word but it was the closest thing that I could think of that somewhat described the tone in his voice and the expression on his face.

Suddenly though he smiled widely and said, "Now I'm going to show you the best week and a half of your life."

"Can we start tomorrow? You know it's like three in the morning."

"It is?" he asked scratching the back of his head and looking around. Again I nodded. "Oh, sorry."

But before I could do or say anything else- like scold him- his head dropped and he collapsed, falling into me. I caught him and then myself as his weight made me stumble back and almost trip over my own stumbling feet. Once balanced again I dragged him over to my couch for the second time since having encountered him.

Ace looked over his shoulder, around the filled with chatter and early risers and then back at me before whispering, "On my word we calmly walk out."

"But-" I began trying to argue.

He double checked and said, "Come on." Before I could continue arguing any farther. He grabbed my wrist as he slid out of the booth saying, "Before people notice." And with that I slid out of the booth as well.

Half of my own free will and half forced out.

As we walked towards the door Ace kept looking over his shoulder then all of the sudden he hissed the word 'run' and before I could react to the word, to ask what for or why, I was being dragged. I succeeded in staying hot on his heels and not tripping over just about everything as words were shouted at our backs, things that Ace seemed to be deaf to.

My heart and pulse was pounding, my breath quick, my stomach was cramping and my throat was burning. But I kept up with him as though my life depended on it. And it probably did. And if it weren't my life that depended on not getting caught then it was his, with him being a pirate and everything. Apparently he was a very wanted pirate but I had yet to figure out who he was. He had yet to offer me the information.

We tore down a few streets, rounded a few corners and eventually slowed to a stop. While threw his head back and laughed I doubled over, resting my hands on my knees and fought to catch my breath my thoughts spinning.

What had we just done?

He clapped me roughly on the back saying, "You did surprisingly well. How did it feel?"

"W-w-we just . . . st-stole." I panted. "B . . .but that's . . . its . . . it was exhilarating." That's the only word that came to mind to explain how that felt. God I felt like I could bounce around for a few more hours or do something I don't usually do.

"That my friend is called an adrenaline rush." He said lifting his hand and ruffling my hair.

"B-but we have to go back and pay." My dad had always enforced rules and my mom had always said do as she said, not as she did. So I turned and started to walk back towards the restaurant.

Only for Ace to step in front of me and when I tried to go around him his arm hooked around my waist and suddenly I was airborne and slung over his shoulder with the words, "No we don't."

"But if we don't pay then we can never show our faces there anymore."

"So?"

"It matters when you'll be gone in a week and a half or so and I stay here." I didn't even bother kicking or pounding on his back, or even screaming and causing a ruckus. I just rested my chin on my closed fist and rested my elbow on his tattooed back.

The crescent like shape on the skull at the middle of the cross looked familiar but I couldn't recall exactly why it did or where I would have seen it.

"Don't dwell on the past, live each day like it's your last." He said to me as if that meant that I should just forget about the consequences that would come from stealing a hell of a lot of food from the place in which we had just eaten at.

"Today is not my last day." I grumbled at him. I was going to see the light of tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that day . . . or so I hoped to. But I didn't voice that last part.

"It could be, you never know." He argued back. "You could get hit by lightning or a stray bullet or you could fall and break your neck. You could get mauled and bleed to death or just mauled to death by forest animals or sea creatures or even humans. You could drown or your house could cave in. You know Willow something could-"

"I get it. But don't tell me you go through your life worrying about lightning or forest animals, cave ins or god only knows what falling from the skies."

"Nope." He began saying something only to shout at someone and start running. And for a brief period of time I was almost violently jostled around on the top of Ace's shoulder which was bony despite all the muscle he had.

"Kidnapping people are you now?" a new voice drawled lazily as if they weren't about to do anything about it if Ace were indeed kidnapping me.

"No. I want to introduce you to someone." He said before setting me back on my feet.

I studied the stranger before me. The blonde's hair had an uncanny resemblance to a pineapple with half closed eyes and a wardrobe similar enough to Ace's, only he had the decency to have a shirt on. We stood there in silence before Ace leaned in towards me and whispered, "Come on introduce yourself."

Instantly I bowed like my dad taught me and said, "My name is Willow. It is a pleasure to meet you."

The blonde guy laughed and told me to stop bowing, to straighten up and only after I had done so did he continue. "I'm Marco. But the pleasure is all mine. You see usually we just can't get him to shut up about that little brother of his but as of late you're all-"

"Shut up Marco" Ace quickly interrupted the blonde not only with words but with a good solid punch in the shoulder. "I said to introduce yourselves that's it. I didn't tell you to make up lies."

"Um . . . Mr. Marco could you sh-show me your tattoo?" I asked. From what I could see of it, it was like Ace's but a little different. I could have just stepped forwards and have pushed apart the long sleeved purple shirt that he was wearing but we had just met and not only would that be kind of weird and indecent but I also didn't know how he would react. If he was a friend of Ace's didn't that make him a pirate as well?

Plus I wouldn't exactly like it if someone did that to me . . . if I were him.

Thankfully he complied. It took all of my self-control to resist the urge to run my fingers over the familiar yet strange tattoo. . .which just so happened to be on his chest.

It was killing me that I could not recognize where I had seen that mark before. There were slight flicks of something, maybe memory that teased me, mercilessly holding the answer just out of reach in my head. The answer that I was trying so hard to obtain was right there on the tip of my tongue, only centimeters from my straining fingers. But I was brought out of my thoughts by a hand raking gently and slowly through my hair accompanied by the words, "It's been a long time since I've seen such blue hair."

"H-how long?" I whispered curiosity getting the better of me and the fear that kept me from jerking away from him.

"It's been a while." He mysteriously answered not giving me the number that I had been expecting. Dropping his hand from my hair he smiled lazily before asking, "So does Myra happen to be around?"

I silently shook my head as I took a step back. "I-I'm sorry but you're about ten years too late." I didn't know how to put it nicely, how to tell Marco that my mom was deceased without opening my old wounds.

Instead of inquiring about how she had died he simply nodded his head and said, "I understand. You have my condolences." And with that there was a moment of silence for my mother between me and this stranger.

-Ace-

I looked between a pained looking Willow and a slightly surprised and disappointed Marco.

Who the hell was Myra?

"Who's Myra?" I asked aloud after being unable to figure out the answer for myself. It was killing me that two strangers knew the same person especially when one of those people had never been off this island.

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A/N: I want to thank all of the people who have already reviewed. Like most authors they really encourage me to continue writing and whatnot.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8

"My mom." A soft voice muttered.

Those two words were spoken in a volume that was just barely audible under the words spoken by Marco, "The second division commander before you."

"But I thought that it hadn't-"

"Well I'm off to talk to Pops." Marco interrupted me, turning his back to the two of us and giving us a lazy backwards wave.

"So is that a no to getting drinks with us?" I called to him. That's why I had introduced them, so that if I got into some kind of bar fight like I tended to do for a little bit of fun on this rather boring island, then I wouldn't be leaving lil ol' Willow in the middle of a bar by herself. She'd attract all the weirdoes and creeps within seconds, like blood and sharks or like meat and Luffy.

"Not today." He said continuing walking away and lowering his hand.

I looked at Willow and looped my arm through hers. "Looks like it's just you and I. Ever been to a bar before?" It was a stupid question but I asked it anyways. I mean what was the likelihood of Willow having been to a bar before.

She shook her head. "No. I-I like champagne but this one time when I was little I had a bottle of my mom's alcohol- I haven't a clue what it was- but she let me have a whole bottle for myself. . . I only took one sip."

I laughed and with that pulled her into a bar.

It was filled with chatter, dim dirty lighting, thick smoke and people enjoying themselves. Some people talked, some people drank and a few people played games. A few people were arguing loudly which startled Willow when we first walked in and a few other people were battling it out with their fists before being escorted out by a man three times my size.

Sitting down at the bar I ordered two drinks, something mild for her and something strong for me. "Whoa Ace!" She exclaimed grabbing onto my arm with both hands and very worried eyes. "Y-you're not going to drink that stuff are you?" she asked as my shots were put in front of me and her dainty drink down in front of her. I had wasted no time picking up one of the shot glasses so she stopped me just as the rim of the glass touched my lips before I could toss it back.

"Yeah." I answered lowering the glass a bit. So it seemed that Willow knew what I had ordered and its strength because when I looked at her she looked quite concerned and she wouldn't look so concerned if she didn't know what I was drinking. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm not going to have to carry you home am I? I-I-I mean you're going to be ok if you dr-drink those right?"

"Yeah. Don't worry." I smiled and then asked "So are there any festivals happening soon?" I hoped so. Festivals are always great fun.

"Well there's the annual festival of light. We celebrate all forms of natural light. We celebrate the sun in the day and at the night we celebrate the moon, stars, lanterns and fireworks." She explained.

"What kind of things do you do at this festival?" I asked knocking back my first shot and laughing as Willow's green eyes widened over the rim of her glass.

"W-well we- in the day it's mostly for children with arts and crafts, contests and things to do, see and, buy outside. Vendors line the streets, people from other islands come in with their goods and some make lanterns for the floating lanterns at sunrise."

"And night?" I asked expectantly. While most festivals were the same, with light festivals of sorts each island did things differently. And by the sounds of it we were going to skip right to the night half of the all day festival.

She shrugged with a most peculiar expression that only flashed across her face, not lingering long enough for me to figure out exactly what it had been. "I've heard that there are more adult themed things. There's lots of alcohol and drinks. I think there's fire breathing, juggling and fireworks as well as other stuff."

Did that mean that she hadn't ever been if she had only heard about those things? Or maybe it had changed since she had last been.

"Sounds fun." I said. I was so not about to miss an opportunity to party!

She shrugged nonchalantly not meeting my eyes. "I haven't been in several years. And I hope you have fun when you go."

"When is it?" I asked. Thoughts and plans for the two of us whirling through my head at dizzying speeds, plans spinning and forming, being thrown out or revised over and over.

"Next Friday." She answered. Good we could attend. "Speaking of fire may I ask you a question?" I nodded. The only question that ever really hurt anybody was one questioning about my biological father. "Well remember in the forest with the wolves?" when I half nodded, half knocked back the second shot she continued. "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but how did you produce that fire?"

Surely she had her own hunches about it. But even if she didn't, I decided to be nice and just simply answer her question. "A devil fruit. It's part of why I can drink so much. I just burn it off."

Something clicked behind her still worried looking eyes and she slowly asked, "Literally?"

I couldn't help but smile at her expression she was staring at me with. "Yeah." I couldn't risk running around drunk off my ass with marines around even if they weren't that much of a threat. There were still other threats that I had to be able to be aware of.

"So you turn into fire and you burn off the alcohol?"

"Yup. So I've got a question of my own for you to answer." I told her giving her a chance to say that she didn't want to answer any questions of mine. But when she nodded with a nervously stammered 'ok' I asked, "Are you going to the festival?"

"Of course not."

"Why not?" I mean I know that she isn't a party animal which was ok I guess. But from the expression that had come over her face when she spoke about the festival before the pirates that Luffy had just recently defeated had come to her island, the memories were pleasant.

"I just don't. It's crowded, the girls are expected to get dressed up and made up. It's so overwhelming and that's when all the creeps come out and true natures are revealed . . . and stuff."

"I'll protect you from creeps and stuff. But you're going this year." I insisted. Protecting her would be easy and the both of us having boat loads of fun was going to be the ultimate goal during the festival.

"You can't make me." She defiantly said giving me this 'I dare you to try' look. One not quite in character for Willow, but one I would look I would certainly have fun accepting the challenge of.

"I can and will." I told her. It was my two week mission to make Willow realize what she was missing in life, to show her how to live and loosen up, to enjoy life before she kicked the bucket. Before she could look back and say, 'I wish I had done more'.

Though thinking about it I didn't quite know what had started this mission. Maybe it was just something to do, a way to pass the next two weeks. . . .Or maybe it was something more. . .

"Look you can go and have a great time with Marco. B-but I'm not going. I'm sorry."

I couldn't help but laugh, which was a reaction that seemed to confuse Willow just a bit. She didn't seem to understand that she didn't have a choice, that in the end I'd have my way and she'd be accompanying me to this light festival like it or not. Of course she'd enjoy the celebration a hell of a lot more if she just went with me willingly.

But even if I had to throw her over my shoulder or literally drag her kicking and screaming to the celebrating and then literally drag her everywhere once we got there she'd end up having fun, enjoying some part of the night and the festivities.

"But I don't want to go with Marco. He's no fun anyway." Marco would probably put a damper on things; he'd try and keep me under control and acting rather tame. He probably wouldn't let me crowd surf or juggle fire after taking over the fire dancers stage and he probably wouldn't let me do anything fun except drink a few drinks and have harmless fun. Not that I wanted to harm people in the process of having fun. But sometimes it happened.

"He'll be more fun than I would be Ace." She tried to argue with me.

But once my mind was made up it was awfully hard to persuade me otherwise and everyone knew that. Everyone except her that was and it was going to be fun to see how much Willow would try and persuade me, how much she'd resist before she ended up giving in. Because she and I were going to that festival, it was part of living, loosening up and having fun.

I shrugged with a smile. "We won't know unless you come with me." That's how life is. It's even more unpredictable then the weather and currents of the Grand Line and the New World. Life was all about the chances you did or didn't take, the things you experience and the (sometimes) wonderful and awesome people in which you get the privilege to meet.

Willow leaned towards me and hissed, "But Ace I know how exactly how these things go. I get dressed up and made up before we go out and then a little later you'll have your way with me . . . or you'll try to at least. My pleading and begging won't stop you and I'll have to resort to a few cheap shots because if I didn't you'd just be too strong for me."

I was in the process of gulping down another shot when she spoke, when her words caught me off guard, causing me to spit it back out in surprise, in order not to choke on the clear liquid. After getting my back firmly smacked I managed to say, "Whaddja say?" and ended up startling Willow. She opened her mouth to repeat what she had just said but I didn't let her do so. "Parties, celebrations, festivals and all of that fun stuff aren't supposed to go like that Willow?"

"Th-they're not?" she seemed genuinely surprised.

"No, not at all. Who did that to you?" She had sounded pretty convinced that's how things were supposed to go, that that exact thing had happened to her.

"I-I don't mean to sound r-rude . . . but why do you . . . care? Why-why does what- what I just said anger you s-so?"

I shook my head muttering, "I don't know but I have morals." Whatever bastard had done to Willow had ruined her idea of celebrations and parties. I guess that made me mad because parties and celebrations were so fun, so amazing. Not only that but Willow was such a good person. I didn't understand why anyone would want to betray her trust like that and hurt her in any way shape or form.

I was taken aback by Willow's disbelieving laugh and the words, "But Ace, you're a pirate." It was as if those words were supposed to mean something, to have some kind of rather obvious meaning behind them.

"So, look at Luffy. He's a pirate. And besides I wanted to be a pirate for the freedom, for the adventure. I just kindda ended up on Pop's crew." I couldn't help but laugh a bit and sheepishly scratch the back of my head, "Funny story there." It was also a long story and even though he had defeated me and my crew he had accepted us into his crew, his family. Pops had a few rules in which we all lived by. Willow finished her drink and set it down on the bar gently. "Want another?" I automatically asked seeing that the glass was empty.

She shook her head. "No thank you that was enough. I'm done."

I paid, much to Willow's surprise before pulling her out of the bar.

It was still light out and there was still plenty of hours of daylight so now it was time to have some fun!

The next week went by fast, but it was lots of fun. I even think that Willow had just as much fun as I did.

We got in lots of practice dining and dashing as well as running from angry mobs of people. Willow had become quite good at it.

She was also quite fond of screeching about what we were doing at the moment was ridiculous, crazy, impossible, not going to end well and/or stupid. But in the end, after yelling at me or getting over the initial shock that she had actually survived she always looked up at me with this smile that could rival Luffy's brightest smile and would say, 'that was fun, dangerous/stupid/crazy/whatever she thought the activity had been, but fun.'

Some nights I more or less literally crashed at her place, at her little house in the middle of the awesome forest. Other nights, while she slept soundly, I explored the forest and the nights when I did neither I was with the crew at the hotel or out drinking and having a good time with them while not stuck on the ship.

Some of the fun things Willow and I did include pranking the crew and when they cornered the two of us she was my secret weapon because who could beat such an innocent face, such wide and naïve green eyes? And after distracting said crew member we made a mad run for it. Most of the time we escaped. . . a few times we weren't so fortunate.

We used the large leaves from the trees in the forest and jumped off a cliff only to hit each other and then fall into the ocean- that hadn't exactly been pleasant but neither of us could have really helped it- and Willow had to save my sorry ass for obvious reasons. And after making sure that I was ok and everything she gave me a small lecture and a large hug while saying that she was glad that I hadn't died because she didn't know she was going to tell Pops that I had kicked the bucket.

We also camped out, delving further within the forest then we could in a single day. And I reached the conclusion that the trees did in fact move, all night and only when dawn came did they stop.

I taught her how to play poker and was pleasantly surprised when she played quite well. But despite that I also taught her how to cheat in those kinds of games as well, just in case she somehow managed to get herself into some kind of tight situation where she needed to win or else. . .

But right now I was walking beside her towards the edge of town and she was laughing with her hand over her mouth and her head turned away from me as though she didn't want to show me exactly how funny she had found my last comment to be.

At the line of trees I stopped and when she realized that I had stopped she turned around with a confused expression on her face. "Go on home." I encouraged her gesturing for her to continue on without me.

Her brow furrowed and she looked even more confused. "But I thought we were- what about the night festival?" Was that disappointment I heard in her voice?

I couldn't help but smile at that. "So you want to go to the night festival now do you?" Ha! I had won! Not that there had ever been even a single flicker of doubt in my mind.

"W-well . . . " as she trailed off and her face flushed a light pink and she avoided eye contact before her gaze fixed on the ground between us, creating a teal veil between her and I. "If you're ta-taking me than y-yes. I would like to go."

I let out a whoop of joy and began running off. As I ran I looked over my shoulder and shouted, "I'll be back for you in an hour or so." In an hour or so the blue still remaining in the sky would have drained into the black of night and the real fun of a festival would begin.

But first I had to do something.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

-Willow-

The day festival had been quite fun, even with Ace and I being the oldest ones who weren't parents, volunteers or actual children. I think we had the most fun with the games and junk food and acting ten years younger than our actual ages.

And even as I walked home unaccompanied by Ace the smile still quivered on my lips, making me feel quite ridiculous.

But butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the thought of going to the night festival. As excited as I was to go I was also equally scared and nervous.

I knew that Ace was strong- he had thought it a brilliant idea to try and wrestle a sea king one day- and that he could protect me if need be. But last time I had gone with the person I trusted that very trust had been betrayed.

But if Ace wanted to do something like what happened a few years ago then he'd have already done it . . . right? He could easily have his way and I had even less of a chance to escape then I had last time. Or maybe he was trying to build up my trust before he made his move like Masa had.

With a frown and a firm shake of my head I muttered the word 'no' and tried to argue with myself, that I would be safe with Ace and that the only good time he wanted to show me was partying. Most likely to prove that not all celebrations were bad, nightmarish or like the last time I had gone to the night festival.

To waste time I decided to take a long hot shower. But in the end I only ended up wasting an hour and that was because the water had run from scorching hot to ice cold. So that meant that I still had the or so part of the hour or so to kill. So I towel dried my hair, brushed it out until it was straight and then decided to braid it. Since my hands were busy and my mind empty I began to wonder exactly what Ace was doing. And why he wasn't killing the next few hours with me before night had completely fallen, the nighttime festival had been set up and we headed back into town. Not that he had to do so but it was kind of what I had expected him to do.

Unfortunately I finished braiding my hair without interruption so I decided to sketch. But first I had to overcome a stubborn creativity block.

Suddenly my door burst open and in rushed Ace who had startled me with the sudden loud noise and his even louder voice.

Finally. I thought setting aside the half complete sketch and pencil and then standing. He smiled at me and I asked, "Ready to go?"

"I am but you're not." And with those baffling words something silky was pushed into my arms.

Holding the thing out and examining it I looked between the garment and Ace several times before asking, "Wh-what is this? Where'd you e-even get it?" Seriously where had Ace gotten such a thing? I hope he hadn't stolen it or raided somebodies closet for it.

Ace only laughed though and said, "It's a dress silly." He said those words in a 'duh' tone of voice. 'What else would it be?' was the unspoken but not so well hidden question in his voice.

"Why?" I wasn't stupid; I could plainly see that what I was holding was a traditional kimono with short sleeves, a sash tied around the middle and a skirt that looked rather short. I wondered why I was holding it or why Ace had shoved it into my arms and why the heck he was smiling so widely at me.

"Because you told me that you had nothing to wear and this is a formal event. And that's a formal . . . ish . . . dress. Besides Cole won't miss it at all. She'd rather torch it. Trust me."

"I. . . I do." I muttered. If I didn't trust Ace to some degree then I wouldn't be prepared to go to the second half of the light festival with him. That thought eased my mind a little bit.

"Good." He said grabbing my shoulders and twisting me around before walking me towards my room. Once at the doorway he pushed me in and said, "Come on, hurry up and change woman." Then after closing the door he decided to talk through it saying, "I see that you did something to your hair. Would it be for the festival? Or for me?"

"K-kind of." I answered not verifying which reason, as I undressed and slipped on the relatively short kimono. It was a light shade of orange with firework like design on it and a plain black sash that I easily tied myself behind my back. After tying it I slipped on my white flats and opened the door.

"Ready?" He asked even though I had been ready the moment he had flown into my house via the front door unlike some pirates that I knew.

I tried to tug down the skirt of the pretty kimono so that it covered more of my legs. "Y-yeah I think so." I managed. Why couldn't this Cole person give Ace leggings to go with this? Or had Ace stolen it from their closet? He had said that they wouldn't miss it.

"Nervous?" He questioned grabbing my wrists. I had a feeling that the moment that I said that I was indeed quite nervous was the moment that we were out of here.

Bruises encircled both of my wrists from Ace so enthusiastically dragging me everywhere and the night festival would be no different than this entire week and the day festival had been. I didn't want to admit that I was nervous, at least not aloud and not to Ace but I did with a smile and a slight nod.

Ace smiled and slung his arm around my shoulders- an action that I had grown accustomed to.- and said, "There's no need to worry I'll protect you." At that moment he sounded a lot like Luffy. "But you still know how to throw that uppercut that I showed you right?"

I nodded.

"Alright then let's go!" And with those words Ace's arm dropped from around my shoulders, his fingertips brushed down my arm and to my wrist before they easily encircled it and I was dragged away. Ace was walking at a quick and brisk pace. "And you remember how to throw a good hook as well right?" I nodded again and that was the end of that.

We talked along the way to the city, keeping at the quick pace until we broke through the line of trees.

"What do you want to do first?" Ace asked when we reached the beginning of the main street.

It was lined with vendors and stalls selling all kinds of things. Now lit lanterns hung front the tops above them and some people even carried lanterns on rods over the heads of the people in the thick crowd. Laughter, chatter and, shouting of sales men and people advertising things filled our ears. The smell of food and things that were being cooked filled our nostrils.

"Games. But no cheating." I said to him simply because these kinds of games were no fun if you cheated plus there was no gain if you did so. I didn't say that because he had cheated during the few games that were old enough for us to want to play during the day festival but because he was a pirate and I had watched him cheat plenty of scary looking men out of their money when learning the trade this week. And he always did it with a smile.

"Ok." He agreed with a wide smile. Well that was easy enough.

So for a while we enjoyed ourselves. We played several fun games like darts and strength testers. There was a dunking booth, food eating contests- which ace participated in but ended up losing because of his sleeping attack thing. There were many different kinds of psychics and a few fortune readers. We played several kinds of tossing games and luck testers. We also played some fishing and balance games as well. We won lots of prizes and tickets to other vendors for snacks or a few beli off.

Ace was so lucky and strong- he even broke a few of the test your strength things. He was quite amusing with great balance and he had a good arm as well.

As for me I was horrible at just about everything we played unless he stood behind me and assisted me. But the assistance only came after trying to explain how I was supposed to do something and then demonstrating how I should do something in order to actually succeed . . . or to simply not fail as miserably as I had the first time. Half of the time- no more than that- when it was my turn he was doubled over, if not literally rolling on the ground laughing at my lousy attempts to beat him or even win the game.

When he saw that I was getting rather frustrated he'd somber up enough to stand up and with a straight face tell me that he wouldn't laugh at me again and then proceed to help me only to do the exact same thing at the next game. Several times he'd pause whatever he was doing and ask me if I was having fun or if I was enjoying myself yet. Usually when he did that I just rolled my eyes and refused to answer.

Currently though we were enjoying something or other on a stick and were just meandering around talking and laughing when something caught his attention and without warning my wrist was tightly gripped and I was dragged over to a stage with bare chested tanned males and scantily dressed women in grass skirts juggling and breathing fire.

Ace pushed our way up to the front and stood there with this huge smile on his face before letting go of my wrist and hoisting himself up onto the stage and efficiently ruining their routine as he began doing his thing with an even larger than before smile and a body that had become the flame that he was playing with so happily.

I managed to tear my eyes off of him long enough to look around at the crowd surrounding me. They were mesmerized at the sight before them, oohing and ahhing on occasion. Every move he made had them transfixed with mouths agape.

Unfortunately for me the crowd around me wasn't the only ones who were guilty of being transfixed and mesmerized, their eyes weren't the only ones following his every movement with rapt attention. I was just as guilty of this as they were. Or rather I was until I heard that familiar loud and obnoxious laughter to my left.

Turning to look I saw a familiar head of blonde hair that was loosely tied back.

At the sight of him my blood froze and my heart began going crazy. Rage, disgust and pure hatred that would shame my parents engulfed me. But I couldn't move, not an inch closer nor an inch away. Despite those strong emotions there was one that dominated the rage and the hate and that was pure undiluted terror.

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A/N: I'm truly sorry that's all I managed to get today. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	10. Chapter 10

Quickly I turned away from him and tried to silently urge Ace down from the stage, where he was still goofing off and having a grand ol' ball, before I could get noticed.

Blue hair didn't exactly fit in anywhere, it wasn't average brown or silky black, it wasn't even a mess of curls and corkscrews. It was straight and tealish in color. Normal shades of blue couldn't even be used to describe it, and I had tried to get several people to describe my hair color to me.

It was only a matter of time and a glance in my direction for me to be noticed by him and when I was sighted I wasn't going to stick around long enough for Ace to know where I had gone off to.

About ten minutes or so, that's what it felt like at least, our eyes finally made eye contact and he slowly stopped, his large an goofy smile faltering on his freckled face. He walked slowly over to the edge of the stage before crouching down in front of me with this slightly concerned look on his face now.

I felt bad that he wasn't smiling and enjoying himself as he had just been.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"C-can we just go home . . . . p-please." I begged my voice almost a whisper as I cast a nervous glance in Masa's direction. His back was turned towards me taking the pause in Ace's stolen show as time to make crude jokes among other things.

"Are you not having any fun?" he asked me yet another question now looking very concerned indeed. Though I doubted it was nothing more than concern for the fact that he thought that I wasn't having fun.

Quickly I shook my head. "N-no I'm having a blast to be honest. . . . But please can we please go before something bad happens." I cast another glance in his direction and unfortunately it seemed that this time Ace caught the movement and looked that way as well.

"Is someone bothering you?" Ace said with a frown as he tried to determine exactly who I was looking at. Fortunately I don't think that he had a clue as to who it was.

I shook my head 'no', grabbed his wrist and pulled him off of the stage. Once he regained his footing I maneuvered our way through the crowd before the stage. "No. No one's bothering me it's just . . ." How was I going to explain this to him? Or how should I lie to keep him out of it? How would I distract him from my troubles and make him forget that anything was wrong?

"You know I'll protect you." He said in one of the most serious tones I had ever heard come from his mouth.

I wet my lips with a slight nod. "Ye-Yes I know-"

"Then you have got nothing to worry about Willow. We haven't even seen the fireworks yet and you were so excited about those."

I managed to summon a weak smile and was about to say how I could see them next year but before I could utter even a sound I was yet again being dragged around by Ace who wanted to check out one of the vendors from a neighboring island.

So off we went entertaining ourselves as we began trying on an odd assortment of strange, exotic and, wild masks. Pulling them on and off of not only the display hooks but also off of each other laughter soon resumed as did the joking around and the light hearted conversation.

I discovered that Ace and Luffy were similar in yet another way. That he had this way of momentarily melting away that fear, the feeling that I needed to get out of there and into the safety of the forest, with the wolves and the moving trees whose patterns I knew, the place where I could navigate easily and hide within even better.

Or rather he did until I caught a glimpse of Masa or heard a voice that was either his or highly resembled it. When I heard and/or saw him I'd quickly turn away from him pulling my braided hair over my shoulder so that it wasn't as noticeably hanging down my back. I also hid behind Ace sense he was a solid mass of flesh and muscle.

And if that didn't seem to satisfy me or quell the sense of fear, then I'd point out something that we hadn't tried and Ace would lead us in that direction, away from the threat.

And then I'd have those periods of a few minutes of ease and bliss, or ignorance and forgetfulness before I would see or hear him, or think that I did.

The rest of the night continued on like this. We would do something, I'd forget, be reminded of his presence at the festival and then we'd move on to something else for a period of time before repeating.

Several times I tried to convince Ace to let us go back home, where I knew I'd be safe. But every time I did he'd flash that large goofy grin and argue that we hadn't seen the firework show yet.

That wide and excited smile made me weary though because I had seen that exact smile several times within the last week, mostly before we did something crazy, stupid or bizarre, something he knew he'd enjoy and couldn't wait for me to experience.

But it was fireworks, what could he possibly be planning with fireworks? Those thoughtful questions almost scared me. There was just so much Ace could work with fireworks.

Every time he flashed the smile and used that lame argument I ended up caving and staying in town, in the midst of the nighttime light festival, struggling to have fun, to hide that there was even anything wrong. I had caught a few looks of concern curiosity and a few glances around from Ace before he'd snapped back to normal. But that was all.

Unfortunately he was a better actor then I. He was a better liar.

We were in the midst of moving onto something else new, a new vendor, this one with some kind of weird food that I had never tried and that Ace claimed that he loved but hadn't had in forever, though I was in the lead with Ace's wrist grasped tightly in my hand. My fingers hardly wrapped around his wrist and I doubted that I'd leave bruises. When there was an announcement that the firework show was to begin in ten minutes.

"Where are you going?" He asked as I changed direction. He sounded not upset like I might have expected with us not going to actually that food he had just literally drooled at the thought of. He sounded as though he didn't have a clue as to where he thought I might be heading.

"W-what do you mean? We're going to stake out a good spot." What did he mean where are we going?

"Oh and where might you think that is?" His tone now held a playful tone to it.

"A rooftop." Where else would I go? It was off the ground and not a very crowded place to watch fireworks.

Ace laughed and suddenly he moved his hand and wrist so that the roles were reversed and I was being dragged behind Ace once again. He pushed and shoved people out of his way with several pardon me's, excuse me, coming through's that created a path that closed behind me with narrowed eyes and mean mutterings.

Of course I knew that he didn't really care and I wasn't given the time to care about their thoughts or feelings as I was pulled out of that thick crowd of shuffling people and onto the beach. He pulled me to the water's edge and even a few inches in when the tide came in and to the side of a thing that could possibly pass as a boat like structure. It was bright yellow in color and had a rolled up sail and a strange contraption on the back of it.

"Where are we going?" I asked unable to stop the nervousness that managed to creep into my tone.

He hopped up into the thing and held out his hand as if expecting me to accept it and allow him to pull me into his contraption boat thing that didn't even look as though it could fit even him let alone the two of us.

"A-ace?" I asked as the voice in the back of my head became my worst enemy.

Despite trying to rationalize the situation by telling myself that I had no real reason to be afraid of him that voice was louder and more persistent. He was a rather strong individual and I was a rather weak and small one. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to go out of the water alone.

And truth be told that scared me.

"Ever watch a firework show from the water?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Don't worry. No one can hurt you if we're out on the water." I think his words were meant to be comforting, after all nothing could hurt me if were just me and him out there.

But that was the problem, it would just be the two of us, the sound of the fireworks drowning out my screams and there weren't many options for escape.

"You can." I felt bad for saying that in such a scared voice or even at all. So bad that I had to look away from his adorably freckled face.

"I can but I won't. Come on, don't you trust me? I haven't hurt you once this entire week. Even with the stunts we've done."

I shook my head. Surprisingly enough I was unscratched and had yet to break any bones or anything. "It's not that it's just-"

I didn't get the chance to explain myself or even get the chance to finish my sentence because despite my resistance I was all too easily pulled up behind him on his odd little boat with the words, "Hold on tight. I can't save you if you fall in and can't swim."

-Ace-

After I was pulled off stage I knew that something or someone was haunting Willow. Something was making her uneasy and despite my efforts to distract her and keep her distracted, to ease her mind as much as I could using all the simulative things this festival had to offer and, in a roundabout way try and comfort her. But she'd still look around with these frightened expressions before she'd move, pull me away or distract me from our current activity with an even cooler, better something or other that I hadn't noticed before she pointed it out.

Several times I tried to ask what was wrong but every single time I tried I was interrupted by something and after that announcement I finally gave up and began dragging a somewhat reluctant Willow towards my boat.

I had been waiting all night and my rather impatient patience was finally paying off. I could hardly wait to see or hear her reaction to what I had planned. Which to be honest wasn't much.

As I pushed off, the boat began moving and I lit my feet, Willow let out a frightened screech from behind me. Before her arms wrapped around my neck her arms crossing across my chest and her hands tightly gripping my shoulders with her nails digging into my skin. Her legs wrapped around my waist and her bare thighs hugged my sides tightly.

With a firm shake of my head I pushed those thoughts of her toned and bare legs and thighs from my head and asked, "Do you like this?"

"No." she groaned into the top of my shoulder, where her face was currently buried.

"Have you had fun so far?" I tried.

"Yes."

I smiled and sped up and yelled over the sound of the wind that we were rushing through I asked yet another question since that just about t only way to really get her talking. "Will you open your eyes?" The boat ride wouldn't be any fun for her like I intended for it to be if she missed it all.

"Y-you're crazy Ace." Willow managed. But despite her words I felt her lift her head off my shoulder for a split second before ducking into the safety of my shoulder yet again.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Just a little but I'm a special kind of crazy." I'm sure there was a long list of things that Willow thought that I was and I doubted that crazy topped the list.

And for a brief second out of absolute nowhere I wondered what she'd think about me if she knew who my father was, if she'd call me a monster or give me one of those looks of fear and disdain. I wondered if her smile would leave her face or if her laughter would die only seconds after she found out. Or maybe she'd shrug it off like Luffy and Sabo had and wouldn't care about who my parents were at all.

"You know I'm crazy for having taken you home after tripping over you."

"You tripped over me?" I asked pretty sure that I wasn't supposed to have heard her mutterings.

Was that how she had found me? Had willow found me in the forest passed out drunk and on complete accident?

"Of course. I don't go out every morning in search of rather cute and solid drunkards."

"You think I'm cute?" I teased slowing down so that we didn't have to yell to hear each other over the wind.

She must have felt the change of speed because she lifted her head a little.

I don't think that she had let those words slip out. After all she wasn't the type of girl to hang all over someone she found attractive and try to seduce them into going into a room and having a bit of fun alone. She seemed more like the admiring from afar kind of girl.

"Y-yeah . . . j-just a bit." She surprised me by not trying to create a cover or trying to put a lie over the slip and trying to make me think that I had heard wrong. I could almost feel her blushing though I couldn't see her face at all.

I laughed and let the boat glide to a stop figuring that we were far enough out for a good view and to not bother the boats that were shooting off and launching the fireworks into the dark velvety night skies.

"And you think I'm solid?" Well that was certainly a new one. One that should certainly go in the books or be put in the records.

One of her hands released my shoulder before sliding to the middle of my chest before lightly slapping it with the words, "Have you not seen your muscles? Their solid. You're practically all muscle."

Willow was just hysterical so I couldn't help but laugh again and ask yet another question. "So are you going to stop choking me so that we can sit down and relax before the show begins?"

"Your feet aren't going to spontaneously combust again are they?"

"No but we do have to get back somehow."

"And you're not going to do anything are you?" She asked. Her voice was nervous and unsure of itself.

"What kind of anything am I promising not to do?" I just wanted a good open, non-crowded place to watch fireworks. There was no doubt that the shorelines were crowded as well as the streets near the beach. Plus whatever had been scaring Willow wouldn't be out here.

That and I wanted a good opportunity to show her my boat, to make her heart race with a bit of light hearted fear.

"Try and rape me." She so bluntly and quietly muttered her head once more buried in my shoulder, her grip around me tightened.

I was glad that I didn't have a drink this time because I would have sat it out as I had while we were at the bar. "Did I hear you-"

"Yes." She interrupted me in a small voice before stammering out another sentence. "S-sorry i-i-if I have o-offended you by say-saying that . . . . but i-i- you see the setup is just so perfect . . . for you I mean. You-you're a strong man, you c-can easily over power me a-and not many people will hear me scream. Plus you-you could threaten me with your devil fruit power to keep-"

"Willow." I interrupted her before she could continue giving me anymore details of the things she could think up that I could do to her.

"I-I'm sorry Ace. You . . . you've been nothing but nice to me-"

"Did someone else do that to you?" I asked remembering that conversation we had at the bar. That someone had ruined her idea of fun, parties, celebrations and stuff. I recalled that she had described in fragments that someone had more or less tried to take advantage of her but she had managed to get away. Just thinking about it really pissed me off for some reason.

"Yes Ace. Why do you think that I-"

"Wait! Is that why you've been acting so weird all night?" I asked once again interrupted her as a thought struck mid-sentence. I felt her nod but heard her speak no more words. "I'll take care of him for you." I told her then added, "Trust me I won't lay a finger on you if you don't want me to." It was no wonder she always tensed when I hugged her or wrapped my arms around her shoulder or her body.

I didn't care that the idiot had only attempted. I didn't care that he had failed in doing the act. He was going to regret it.

"Promise" she asked lifting her head again.

I nodded and found one of her pinkies. "Pinkie swear." I said knowing that the action was quite childish. But she accepted it before unwrapping her legs from around my torso and slipped off with that.

She looked at me when I turned around to face her and she let out a laugh with a shake of her head, the braid swinging at her back.

"What?" I asked. Here we just had this serious conversation and then she laughs at me! Why was she smiling and laughing now?

"Nothing." Again she shook her head with another small laugh. "It's just that you and Luffy call yourselves pirates but the only thing piratey about you two is your love of adventure, danger and your huge appetites and your lack of interest in girls."

"Wait, hold on! Who says we're not interested in girls? Because let me tell you I have no interest in guys!" Was Luffy hiding something form me?!

"No, no. I- I guess I mean that you're blind, Luffy to a certain girl on his crew and you to . . . well just about every girl and anything that isn't fun or dangerous."

"Oh, ok well." That was fine now that that was settled and Luffy wasn't hiding anything like his sexuality from me. "What do you mean that we're not piratey? It piratey even a word?"

"It's just-"

Before she could explain herself I pulled her down next to me by her wrist as I sat down myself. It was harder to spontaneously fall over and/or capsize if we weren't on our feet. Once situated she continued on.

"Just that . . . well Luffy beat up the pirates that killed my dad and you; you're getting all hot and bothered over someone you've never met."

"I may be a pirate and by your standards I might do a hell of a lot of bad things. But you see Pops will not tolerate a small number of things and rape- attempt or actual success- is one of those things he won't allow. And we live by Pops rules." I told her.

But before she could reply there was a loud streaking whine and a shaky line of smoke before a loud boom sounded and a burst of color erupted in the sky.

With that the show began.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	11. Chapter 11

Watching Willow and her attentive excitement and awe was almost as good as watching the show. She was smiling, on her hands and knees with her head tilted back. On occasion she'd let out a whispered 'whoa' and even fewer times she'd look back at me and ask if I had seen the previous one, as if she thought that i had blinked and happened to miss it. She also muttered to herself about the strange color they had manifested or the design or shape that she hadn't seen before.

In all honesty her excitement and the fact that her eyes were glued to the sky reminded me of Luffy. Hell if I tried hard enough I could see him right there next to her, on his hands and knees leaning out over the water as far as he could without falling in with his big mouth hanging agape as he ooed and aahed in pure delight with bright shining eyes.

When the loud and grand finale ended so did her excitement and she seemed to remember that she was not alone out here that I was here with her. "D-did you . . ." she covered her face with her hands before muttering, "You just saw all of that didn't you?"

I laughed at her and stood, offering my hand out for her to take. As she took it I said with the index finger of my other hand pressed to my lips, "It'll be our secret. I won't tell a soul." That's what she was probably the most worried about, which was quite amusing considering that I was Fire Fist Ace, second division commander of Pops' crew.

"Promise?" She asked giving me this dubious look.

"Pinkie swear." I confirmed hooking our pinkies together. "Do you want to go home or ride around a bit?" However before Willow could answer my question I made up my mind and said, "Nah. The night's still young; we've got some time to kill."

"Wait Ace!" She began to shriek as I turned around and began speeding around. A hand grabbed me by the belt loops of my pants.

Oops I suppose I should have made sure that she wasn't going to fall off before I started moving. But I wasn't used to other people being on my little boat with me.

There was a bit of movement behind me before arms wrapped around my chest and legs around my waist one again. She also buried her face into my shoulder again.

"Open your eyes." I tried again. I could feel her heart pounding through the fabric of the dress that she was wearing that's how tightly she was holding on to me.

"I-if I do w-will you stop yelling at me?"

"Sure." And sure enough she lifted her head. After that she didn't put it down.

After god only knows how long of zooming around in the water, in the moonlit dark and mostly in silence I asked, "Ready to go back in?"

"Not really. This . . . it's kind of fun. But we should probably head back."

So that's what we did. When my boat would go no farther I hopped out, helped Willow out and after a word of thanks and a splash as her sandaled feet slapped into the shallow water before she said, "Thanks for the entire night. It was really fun."

"It's not over until we're back at your house silly." I told her even though I had no farther plans, nothing else for us to do.

"W-what?" she looked baffled and asked, "Wh-what do you mean?" As if my words didn't have an already rather clear meaning behind them.

I just ruffled her hair and said, "Nothing much."

She grumbled something incomprehensible and was about to say something when a slightly familiar sounding voice cut her off, "Are you having fun you little whore?"

Willow's laughter instantly died and she shifted behind me as I whorled around to face the voice.

"YOU!" I shouted while pointing at the blonde, his words from the bar coming back to me. The 'if I couldn't have her then no one can' echoed around my head as though he had just repeated them.

As the blonde threw back his head and laughed I twisted around and asked another rather obvious question. I just wanted to make sure that I was going to get the right guy before I actually got him. "Is that the guy?" She nodded her head, giving me her answer, her seal of approval. "Don't worry your pretty little head." I added with a quickly flashed smile at her before turning around.

"W-Wait." She whimpered. "D-don't kill him."

I nearly hung my head. How else was I going to take care of this guy if I left him alive and kicking? "What else am I supposed to do Willow?" I asked with a heavy sigh.

"A-anything but kill him."

"If I let him live he can do things to other people." I informed her hoping to change her mind. Things would be so much easier if I could just kill the guy.

"I-I know but-"

"You'll be doing the world a favor." I tried again. "Besides you don't have to watch." Maybe she didn't want to see the grotesque result of a human coming in contact with my fire.

"Please don't." she begged.

"Why don't you head on home and I'll catch up later? Would that make you feel better?" I could understand if she didn't want to watch me burn this guy into an unrecognizable crisp, it would probably traumatize her if she did, but I wasn't just going to scar the guy beyond recognition. What would the point of that be?

"O-ok." She muttered obviously defeated.

And with that she started towards the festival without me with her head down and her eyes downcast. But that didn't stop the blonde bastard from walking over to her and grabbing her around her waist and pulling her into his chest. She struggled but failed to break free as he said things that I couldn't quite hear to her.

I frowned. Shit, I should have thought to tell her how to kick the shins, stomp on the toes or elbow the guy in the gut. However she wasn't in the position to really the guy or kick him in the shins. "Hey!" I shouted before sending a blast of fire towards the pair. It dissipated before it reached them and therefore didn't hurt Willow. Which meant that it also didn't hurt whatever his name was.

The guy's attention turned from Willow and harassing her to me with narrowed eyes. He roughly shoved her away from him. And of course since Willow wasn't the best coordinated person that I had met she fell into the sand. She began crawling away. Willow was half way to her feet when the order to sit down and stay right there until he was done with me was harshly barked at her. A threat followed and she obeyed.

"What? That bitch is mine." He growled at me slowly walking towards me as if he were controlling his plain to see anger. Jeez he was a bit temperamental. It was as though he thought that his angry and threatening aura as well as his puffed out chest could scare me away.

I couldn't help but laugh at this guy. We had already had a little tussle and I had been the victor of that. And now he was trying to intimidate me. Well I guess he didn't have a very good memory. The situation was laughable; the person who had done those things to Willow was laughable.

It wasn't until he was close enough for me to not have to raise my voice did I choose to childishly say, "You know I didn't see your name written on her."

"Did you look?" He sneered as if he thought that he had me there.

"Of course I did." I lied with a smile. "You know I made Willow a promise to take care of you-"

The guy cut me off with a forced laugh before pulling out a switchblade that i couldn't help but laugh at. He let out an enraged growl as he began swinging it around like a novice, as though he didn't even know how to use his own weapon. I dodged every swing, stab and arc easily, occasionally even letting the blade slide through my fiery chest like butter for nothing more than for the fun of it.

As I did so I didn't let the conversation drop.

"I've got no qualms about killing you. But fortunately enough for you Willow is just such a generous person. She just wants me to scar you beyond recognition." I lied yet again just to get a reaction out of him since it wasn't near as hard as getting a decent sized response out of Willow.

Actually fighting him wouldn't be very hard or satisfying either. And it didn't promise to be a very fun fight, which kind of sucked. But I was going to make it as fun as I possibly could. I didn't even have to be serious about this or him. I've fought more experienced, more enraged, more jealous men (and occasionally a woman) then him before. I'd compare him to a piece of cake or pie but I didn't want to insult the pieces of pie and or cake.

The guy whose name I didn't even know, let out yet another enraged shout before he lunged at me, tossing his blade aside with outstretched arms and hands aiming for my neck. Turning into fire yet again I let out a laugh and spun around to face him. "You know you're going to have to try harder than that if you want to beat me."

-Willow-

For a fight there was certainly a lot of laughter and rather silly looking hopping around on Ace's part. There weren't many physical blows that were exchanged and every time I caught a glimpse of Ace's face illuminated by his body turning into fire; he was smiling, grinning almost devilishly, as if he were having fun. Ace was having fun! He shouldn't be having fun. He should be taking this seriously, not lightly.

When I saw Masa's face I saw that his eyes were narrowed and his face was contorted in a mask of murderous intent, the polar opposite of Ace's face.

I sat there feeling both completely and utterly helpless and grateful at the same time. I was glad that Ace was taking care of Masa for me, but he shouldn't be doing this for me. It wasn't his fight to fight, his battle to win. This wasn't his business but mine. Really he had no place in this, even though I had dragged him into it.

"A-Ace." I called out after a long while of watching them dance around the beach. Once I got his attention I stood and waved him over to me, unwilling to put myself closer to Masa then I needed to be.

Ace turned his back to the guy and their fight and jogged over to me after tripping Masa face first into the sand. "Pleeease tell me you want me to actually kill him now." He begged as though he needed my permission to kill Masa.

I shook my head and wet my lips as I wrung my hands. "N-no. you . . . you see I-I was thinking th-that . . ." I trailed off as I watched Masa get up and head our way looking even more pissed then before. "ThatIcouldtakecareofhimmysel f." I rushed out trying to speak before the petrifying fear took over and before Masa could reach us. I was scared and nervous but I had made up my mind. And Ace and him being here was what was inspiring me to keep to my decision.

Ace raised an eyebrow and stepped aside before making a sweeping gesture with his arm towards the charging blonde. "He's all yours. Do you need a weapon?" He asked reaching for the small dagger strapped to the middle of his pant leg.

Had he always had that on him? I wondered with a frown. What if he had? Jeez if I knew he had that before we went on his boat I certainly wouldn't have gone with him.

"I-I was . . . well you see I was hoping that I could use your . . . fire?" I was still torn between making him suffer the rest of his life as a terribly scarred man or to simply deliver him a very painful death. I knew that I had no chance against him with a simple dagger and my own skills. Even though he had looked as though he had been flailing around when he was facing Ace. The problem was that I was not Ace, I'm not sure i could wield even a pencil or something that's not really a weapon correctly.

"What?!"

I bit my bottom lip before nodding my head without a sound. He was quite an open guy and he was now obviously quite shocked at what I had just said but at least he wasn't the angry kind of shocked. I didn't know what I'd do if he were.

"Did I hear-Did you ask-That-Are you possessed?"

I shook my head no. I was not possessed. But said, "Y-yeah you heard me correctly." I muttered taking a step back as Ace delivered a good solid kick to the middle of Masa's chest and sent him flying back, almost all the way to the shore line, giving us a bit more time to talk.

"Do you think you're up to it?" He looked the most unsure that I had ever seen him look. It was as though he wanted me to rethink my decision. I nodded and he asked another question, "Do you think you can handle it?"

I nodded again and said, "Y-yeah. I mean you-you have no reason to fight him, let alone take his life. But you have enough strength and the ability to do so . . . I-I mean I know what you promised out there but-"

A hand landed on my head and when I looked up I saw that not only was Ace grinning widely but there was a spark of something that I couldn't quite name in his eyes. "No worries I get it. You just need a bit of help."

Those words seemed to lift the weight off my shoulders. That was a relief because not only was Masa circling the two of us now, searching for the best time and place to strike but Ace was holding him at bay with small blast of fire.

"Just tell me when you're ready." He said grabbing my shoulders, spinning me around and then pulling me into a backwards hug with his arms out in front of us, forearms resting on the tops of my shoulders. I nervously said ok as the thought of him being able to spontaneously combust came into mind. "I'll blast 'em at your word."

Masa laughed, stopped his wide circling, and began strolling towards us sneering, "Aaaww how revoltingly cute. But honey you aren't delusional enough to really think that you have the guts it takes to follow through with your fruitless little plan. Step away from the damn pirate, can't you see he's leading you astray form yourself, form your goals and morals? See how he's using you as a shield? What kind of man does that?"

I let out a choked laugh. What the hell was he trying to say? Was he trying to convince me to step out of the safety of Ace's arms, out of the security that Ace was providing for me at the moment? Was he trying to tell me to get closer to my would be demise? I wet my lips and began speaking, "Get out of here Masa. Go be-before I do something I know that I-I'll regret." It was comforting to know that someone as strong as Ace was at my back and willing to help me, that I wasn't facing Masa alone, that he was stronger than my wavering voice.

But instead of heeding my warning he lunged at us, his knife catching the light of the not too far away festival. I tried to take a step back but only pressed into Ace's strong and solid chest. "ACE!" I screeched beginning to panic. He had the real control of his devil fruit, of his fire, not me. This wasn't like pulling a trigger, not when the trigger was a word that we hadn't even decided on.

"I think that's my cue man." Ace's voice said with a laugh and a feigned apologetic tone.

A laugh! Ace was still laughing!

How could he laugh at something, at situation like this?

The stream of fire hit his entire figure but I hesitantly grabbed his arms and directed it at his hands and arms shouting something about this was for hitting me. That had taken place since the start of our short lived relationship. I really didn't know what I yelled at him but I knew that I was. And I must admit it felt good, really good, fantastic even despite what I was doing to him.

He was screaming and trying to convince me to stop but I felt like the bolder of emotional build up had been put into motion and until it hit the bottom it wouldn't stop, i wouldn't stop.

After both hands were blackened and charred I directed Ace's flame at his face, at his mouth specifically then began yelling about how that was for all of the foul things he had said to me, the things he had called me. I paid no mind to the fact that the flame had gotten small enough to only really affect his mouth a lower face, to scar only that part of his face. Next to be scorched was his groin. It's what he deserved really.

All the while Masa was screaming curses and threats at me, yelling and shouting over my screams and shouts. He was howling and grunting, wreathing and crying out in pain and agony. And the sick thing was that it made me smile, I was glad that he was suffering, it was almost as if it were making me high.

His screams were long gone but his voice wasn't, he was making lots of pleading sounds and his eyes were begging me to stop, to put him out of his misery or something of the sort. Ace's fire revealed streaks left by tears running down his face. He had fallen to his knees and had the charred remains of what were his hands collapsed together his eyes were no longer filled with anger and rage but instead fear and shock.

I found it kind of funny that he was willing to try and negotiate now, now that I had ruined his strong face, now that his hands and face were beyond repair, beyond recognition, now that he would have to suffer the rest of his life with more than just scarred flesh. If I let him live, every day he would remember me. His hate would probably fester and build but what could he do to me without hands and without a mouth to abuse and hurt me with?

"That's enough Ace." I said quietly in a voice that sounded foreign to even my own ears.

"What are we not going to kill him?!" How could he sound so upset that I wasn't willing to actually kill the guy.

"Ace, I can't kill him." I whispered as I took in the sight before me.

Had I done that? Was I to blame for the permanently damaged being before us?

Instantly I let go of Ace's wrists and clutched my hands to my chest.

Ace let out a curse and asked "Did I burn you too?" His voice was far away but I knew that he was close; I could feel his strong chest pressed against my back. I couldn't move, my eyes were fixated at the moaning and whimpering, still obviously human figure not ten yards before me. When I didn't answer my shoulders were grabbed and I was turned around, my gaze was torn form Masa and turned to Ace's concerned freckled face.

My hands were grabbed and were examined before deemed unburned.

Despite that and Ace's still talking close to me voice, it sounded far away from me. I was going to cause Masa to suffer a miserable life until he died or committed suicide because he couldn't stand the shunning and rejection. He would lose all of his miserable friends and be unable to find love- as if he was going to find that ever. I could just imagine the horrible things they'd say behind his back and the even worse things they'd say to his face. He'd be isolated and alone, miserable and I'd be to blame for that.

Every day he'd suffer, I was the sole person to blame for that and he wouldn't soon forget it. He knew where I lived and the human mind could be such an unbelievably conniving, crafty, cunning and unpleasant thing.

"Hey . . . Willow?" I heard his voice but it didn't register until I was lightly shaken by my shoulders. "Hey, are you alright?"

-Ace-

Willow began shaking in my arms but she was silent, her gaze fixed on the pathetic excuse of a human before us. He couldn't even take death graciously or quietly. Granted that death by fire was quite painful and surprisingly enough Willow hadn't gone straight for the kill.

I was rather surprised when she had decided to burn certain parts of him such as his hands, his mouth and his groin- that last one looked and sounded painful, it even made me a bit squeamish just watching my fire and hearing his screams.

I hadn't burned her so why was she acting like this?

To be honest I didn't know that I was supposed to do. I asked her if she was ok but it took a few minutes for her to respond. Her eyes focused on me, not whatever else she was seeing and she shook her head before reaching up and lightly removing my hands from her shoulders.

With an almost sad shake of her head she said, "I-I wanted . . . I want to th-thank you for th-the wonderfully . . . fun week. You -you were great company. . . .But. . ." trailing off she took a few steps back with another shake of her head. "Wh-when I'm gone you can finish him. B-but this," she wet her lips with a short pause, "is-b-bye." And with that she turned around and dashed off.

I could have ran after her and caught up pretty easily. I could have stopped her but I just stood there with an unfinished job to complete.

"Wait what?" I asked aloud feeling stupid as I stood there dumbfounded and scratching the back of my head.

What the hell had just happened?

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	12. Chapter 12

"Where's the second division commanders daughter?" Marco asked me as we aimlessly meandered down a street.

All of the stalls and vendors from the festival had disappeared over night though there were still signs of the festivities littering the streets, show windows and people's houses. Wrappers and trash had been swept to the side of the streets and was slowly being cleaned up, lanterns and streamers were still hanging. The stage had been taken down and the remainders of the body of the guy that I didn't even know had been found this morning and a big deal was being made of it.

Some people were now on a manhunt for me because they knew that Pops was here and the body had been burned, so it had to have been done by Fire Fist Ace- aka me. The crime had to have been committed by me of course because who else would use fire to kill a guy?

"I'm the second division commander and I don't have a daughter." I grumbled at him. Why did he have to mention Willow? I intended to forget about her and continue on as if nothing had happened, as if I hadn't met her. But it was going to be hard if people- namely Marco- kept asking about her.

He laughed. "My apologies Ace. So where is your girlfriend, your shadow, the lost little puppy that you kept dragging around?"

I shook my head. "Marco, she's not my girlfriend or anything else you or the rest of the crew could possibly come up with. But she's probably at home. I bet she's sketching or hiding form the world or something."

Her reaction to realizing what I had helped her do flashed in my mind. Yeah she was probably holed up somewhere either in her house or in that forest.

I was going to miss that forest. I doubted that I had even seen everything there was in it.

"We leave sometime tomorrow." I was informed as though I hadn't been counting down the last two weeks, trying to manage my time carefully, to make the most of each day, or the time I had to show Willow how to really live, how to love her life not just like it.

"I know." I grumbled pushing the thought of Willow from my mind, or trying to at least.

"What, are you not going to show her anymore rather inventive ways to live?" He asked not making the task of forgetting her any easier.

"No." And with that he finally got the hint and the subject of her was thankfully dropped.

I was still confused as to what exactly had happened last night though. She had said good bye meaning that I wasn't allowed to crash at her house and leave tomorrow morning as I had planned. This was why I don't plan things, they almost never go the way they should, the way they were planned to go.

The rest of the say was kind of long but at nightfall I decided to see the forest on last time, still bummed out about all of the things that I couldn't do to the crew with the glowing plants and animals.

The night unfortunately passed quickly and when I returned to the hotel we had more or less taken over it was deserted, everyone had cleared out. So I headed back to the ship.

There wasn't much to do, to prepare for. There were no last minute preparations, no last minute supply getting so we pushed off, away from the islands docks around three since it took that long to round up the entire crew and keep them on the ship.

The day was nice, quiet and despite the usual chaos of docking and setting sail was peaceful, just like the slowly shrinking island behind the Moby Dick. Luckily Marines were almost never a problem because they tended to leave Pops alone. It wasn't as if they ever stood a chance as it was so it was rather smart that they didn't try, didn't waste men's lives on futile things like trying to take Pops down.

I couldn't think of anything to do that the moment so I sat down against the railing of the ship and decided that I'd take a nap or just watch the crew do whatever they were doing. I probably had some kind of division commander work to do but I really didn't want to do it and if someone asked why I wasn't doing that work I could blame it on a narcoleptic attack.

With a sigh I leaned by head back, closed my eyes and adjusted my hat over my eyes accordingly and began drifting off.

I was just about asleep when I heard my name. It was shouted but faint. I jolted up and looked around pushing my hat out of my eyes. Looking around I searched for the owner of the voice. But when I didn't find it I began questioning myself and wondering if I was just hearing things, if I had just imagined it.

Dismissing it as that I leaned back and closed my eyes again.

But just as I was drifting off again, having just gotten comfortable for a second time I was kicked in the shin with the words, "Hey, you might want to see this."

"What?" I questioned with a frown. Did I have to go to my room to get a good nap?

"Your shadow is following you." The voice I recognized as Marco's said.

At that I pushed my hat back for another time and looked around to see if my shadow was even moving. But instead I saw Marco pointing to the ocean below and behind the ship.

Frowning I got up and looked to not only appease Marco but to also satisfy my curiosity.

-Marco-

Ace's reaction was quite humorous when he saw the blue haired girl somewhere between the docks and the Moby Dick.

She appeared to be swimming for her life from the mob that was gathering at the docks she had obviously jumped off of. People had thrown countless things they had at her and fortunately their aim was horrible, every single item missed her.

My attention however was pulled back to Ace as he looked between Myra's daughter, Pops and I before asking, "What am I supposed to do about this?" He sounded more shocked then anything as his gaze finally lingered on Pops long enough to get an answer.

Pops laughed though it wasn't a good hearted one. Maybe it was a laugh of disbelief or something else but he solemnly said, "Finish what you started son."

Ace began stammering about something or rather and I let out a quiet chuckle. From the sound of it Pops knew what Ace had been up to for the duration of our short stay on the island.

Suddenly though Ace looked at me and asked, "Would you please save Willow before a sea king eats her or something?"

Ace could have hopped on his little yellow boat and have done it himself but by the look on his face he hadn't even considered that idea. To be honest it was rather amusing that he looked so worried about the girl and was trying to cover it. He wasn't hiding the fact that he was concerned very well though. But I wouldn't tell him.

"I can." I said with a slight nod but moved no more just to see how much of a rise I'd get out of him.

"Then do it!" Ace exclaimed pushing me towards the side of the ship. "Get going before she drowns or something."

"Worried?" I couldn't help but tease.

At that Ace crossed his arms across his bare chest and turned his head to the side with a childish pout on his lips as he made a show of refusing to answer my question.

Chuckling I transformed my arms into the wings of a phoenix and decided to listen to Ace's request and went to 'save' the girl.

To be honest if she weren't Myra's daughter, if Ace didn't seem so concerned and if Pops hadn't more or less told us to get the child out of the water then I wouldn't have bothered doing it. I would have told Ace that this was his problem and for him to fix it.

When I plopped her down on the deck she thanked me before pushing her long wet hair out of her eyes and in an out of breath voice said, "Good. I made it."

Once her breath was regained she seemed to gain bearing of her surroundings, of the pirates that had paused whatever they had been doing to stare openly at her. Her wondering gaze passed Pops and landed on Ace. When she saw him a look of relief passed over her face and she even smiled a bit. That was before her head whipped back towards Pops. Upon seeing him and realizing who he was she moved so that she was on her hands and knees with her forehead pressed to the deck.

"Stand up child." His voice rang out, loud and ringing with his authority, unfortunately it also startled the poor girl. Instantly she obeyed and scrambled to her feet.

I heard Ace laugh as I watched him walk over to her with large and lazy steps. He slung his arm over her wet shoulders and asked, "Remember when I told you that if we ever got the chance to I'd introduce you to someone . . . special?" She meekly nodded and though she was looking up at Ace I knew that she was eying Pops out of the corner of her eye. Ace made a sweeping gesture towards Pops and said, "Well this is the old man himself, in the flesh, Whitebeard but we all call him Pops. You can too."

Upon Ace Whitebeard the girl paled and looked even more frightened then before. "C-call Whitebeard . . . . P-pops? She seemed to have difficulty wrapping her mind around the familiar name in which we addressed him.

Ace nodded and looked at Pops before directing a question towards him. "Can we keep her pleeeeeaaase?"

And Ace argued that he was a man. He was acting like a boy, a three year old child to be exact. Not only that but the girl wasn't a stray something or other that Ace had randomly decided to parent, pick up, adopt or claim as his only to have to put it back or return it to wherever he had found it. We were now dealing with a girl, a living breathing girl. And by the looks of it we couldn't just 'put her back'.

"Why did you decide to come after us?" Pops asked in a neutral voice, and to my relief not giving Ace even an ounce of false hope.

"I-I apologize. I-i-it's just th-that I was- the villagers . . . well you see they chased me out of-out of town a-and I . . . well I didn't know where else t-to go. And y-you weren't that far and I . . . I didn't have many other options.

I noticed that Willow forgot to add the part where she told Pops what he already knew and said that it was all Ace's fault that she had been chased out of town and literally off her home island.

There was a pause before Pops burst out in booming laughter, again visibly startling Willow. "I haven't seen such colored hair in twenty-five years. It's unfortunate what happened to your mother." His words that seemed to have nothing to do with the question at hand seemed to confuse her as the crewmembers who remembered who her mother was bowed their heads for a short moment of silence.

That moment that was broken by none other than Ace. "But Pops that doesn't answer my question." He whined like a child. "Can we keep her?"

Being close enough to reach him I reached up and smacked him in the back of his head, earning myself a glare and a frown but no other retaliation.

"S-sir?" Willow quietly addressed Pops, speaking directly to the deck in a voice that I was surprised that he had heard.

"Speak up girl!" Whitebeard said with a smile. He seemed to be amused with her so far. "My hearing may not me that impaired yet but if you're going to be on this ship you've gotta have a voice and a set of lungs." While the first comment offered no false hope to ace, this statement did. An excited whoop escaped from Ace's mouth. It only took a single short glance from Pops to not only silence him but to make him reign in most of his excitement.

"D-do-my-my- mom was a Whitebeard pirate?"

So it seemed that deal ol' Willow hadn't pieced it together after I had told her that he mother had been the second division commander. But then again I don't recall having named the ship or the crew that her mother had been a part of.

She was now making an attempt to look up at Pops through her eyelashes even though she was half cowering behind Ace and half trying to use her long straight hair as a shield.

"Yes girl. She was a mighty fine woman, quite a skilled pirate as well. Very talented."

I didn't know if it was my place to speak up about Myra at the moment so I kept my mouth shut, kept my thoughts to myself.

A smile flashed across Willow's face before she tucked her tealish hair behind one ear and bit her bottom lip. "Did she have that," she pointed to our flag, Pops jolly roger. "On her left hand?"

-Willow-

I really didn't need Whitebeard, who Ace wanted me to call Pops for some bizarre reason, to nod his head and confirm that my mother had a tattoo like that on the back of her hand.

I couldn't help but smile, some of my mother's weird habits and quirks suddenly made sense to me.

The way she'd always wear a single glove an only remove it when we were at home and sometimes then she'd keep it on. I now understood why she followed the pirates in the papers so closely and the reason she wasn't too fond of the Marines. She was also at times bossy and quite the rule bender- but never breaker. I now knew why I had been raised up secluded and for the most part self-dependent.

"D-did they call her the Blue Blur?" I asked unable to stop the laugh that traveled out of my mouth with my words.

We used to have a strange bedtime routine where she'd be the Blue Blur, a big, bad and dangerous pirate that was going to get me. When I had asked her about why she got such a lame name she'd tell me that daddy had named her that and that was the way it was to stay. And in the game daddy was the vice-admiral that was going to take me to the safety of my bed or something.

Unfortunately it was incredibly rude when I didn't wait for an answer continued on asking questions. "A-and my-my dad, do you know about him too? Was he a vice admiral?"

Whitebeard laughed again. Apparently the found me funny or I was amusing to him or something because he was laughing so much. "Yes." He shook his head before lifting a cup to his lips and taking a short swig much to a woman's displeasure. "Damn kids, young, crazy and somehow in love."

Now not only did my mother make sense but so did my dad. His kind strictness, the way he enforced and followed the rules. He tended to be a more serious man. My mom and dad were quite contrary people but when it came down to it both of them wanted something done and when it was done they wanted it done correctly, the first time, no excuses.

"Pops." Ace whined again bouncing a bit, just like an impatient child.

Though with the warning word, "Son." He almost froze before making a show of zipping his lips. Satisfied that Ace was done with his childish interruption he looked back at me and asked, "Anything else you would like to know about your parents while we're here?"

I shook my head without a word.

I found that I wasn't surprised with this new information at all. It all clicked together so perfectly. Their personalities, the reason we had always lived in the forest, everything.

But I couldn't believe that Ace had left out the part where he told me that he was a Whitebeard Pirate. Marco too, he had forgotten to run this little detail by me when we had first met as well. Jeez if I had known I might not have picked Ace up, I might not have gone along with all of his craziness.

Fortunately I wouldn't dwell on that anymore. I couldn't not really I mean not only would it do no good but I was already here so it didn't really matter, the information was irreverent to the situation now.

Ace leaned in to me and whispered, "Are you done with your questions?" which earned him another pop in the back of his head courtesy of Marco.

Again I nodded.

"Pops Pleeeeeeeaaaase can we keep her? Pleasepleaseplease." Ace begged as though I were a lost puppy, or a toy that he really wanted. It looked as though he really thought that the words pleeeeeeeaaaase and pleasepleaseplease would sway Whitebeards decision in any way shape and or form.

But Ace looked so hopeful, so childish. Just like Luffy.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	13. Chapter 13

"I-if it's too much trouble . . . you can j-just drop me off at the next island you dock at." I told them. I didn't want to impose, especially on the great Whitebeard. Though I had a feeling that if he didn't want me to be here that I wouldn't be here.

Again he let out a laugh. But I didn't understand what was so funny about what I had just said. "Any children of a child of mine is always welcome."

At those words Ace let loose another loud whoop of happiness as he literally jumped with joy with an excited punch to the sky. He did all that with the biggest smile I had seen yet plastered on his freckled face.

Marco just had enough time to ruffle my hair and say "Welcome to the family." Before my wrist was grabbed in a familiar grasp and I was dragged off.

Behind me I could hear Whitebeard chuckling with the lightly muttered words. "Damn kids."

"Ok so you have to listen to everyone because you're a newbie. But I'll introduce you to the division commanders."

"How many are there?" I asked hoping that there weren't many. I wasn't very social and people always get insulted when I mess up their names and now I was dealing with pirates, very dangerous, well known and wanted pirates.

"Sixteen. But you already know Marco- he's the first division commander. And you know me, I'm the second. So next is Jozu, who is the third division commander." With that I was eagerly dragged throughout the ship.

As Ace searched for whoever Jozu was he talked a mile a minute throwing in an occasional 'oh we just passed the. . .' I was pulled down below deck and he continued talking excitedly as we searched for whoever this guy was.

However after failing to find the guy below the deck we reemerged and low and behold I was dragged over to a large tanned and rather intimidating man. His arms were crossed and he wasn't exactly smiling.

"Aaah Jozu there you are. I thought you had decided to play hide and seek for a moment there." Ace said with a familiar tone while scratching the back of his head.

In truth it didn't look as if the guy had moved for a while, meaning that Ace hadn't noticed him sitting there.

"Well Jozu, Willow. Willow, Jozu."

I offered a wave unsure if I should hold out my hand or not and he offered a wordless nod. But it wasn't as though we had time for anything else like conversation or 'hello' because I was pulled away.

Before I knew it I was stopped and introduced to somebody named Thatch who instantly grabbed my hand and began saying it was nice to meet me. I tried to keep up, trying not to get hung up on the differences between him and Jozu. But I failed and in the end Ace had to step in.

"Ace you're being extremely rude for not offering to find the poor girl dry clothing. I'm sure we could scrounge up something."

"I-I'm fine really Mr. Thatch." I tried to stop the two of them from baking a big deal out of it.

But with that they began discussing whose clothes they could steal, which ones would look the best on me and who was least likely to notice until I was actually wearing the clothing. And any time I tried to cut in, to tell them that I was fine, they wouldn't listen to me. Finally they came to the conclusion that I should be clothed in the nurse's outfit.

At first I agreed but that was only because I hadn't noticed that there were any nurses on the deck. But after seeing the little pink dresses and the leopard printed boots that went up to past their knees. I'd break my neck in shoes like that. And they did it with such ease. I blatantly refused to wear something like that.

"Why not? It's just temporary." Thatch asked watching me with amusement as I took a step back, away from them, distancing myself just a bit.

"It will look cute on you." Ace tried to convince me.

But I shook my head. No. I didn't think I was supposed to look cute on a pirate ship. Not unless cute was a new kind of weapon I don't think pirates and cute mix, not now not ever.

And then someone walked out onto the deck wearing a purple kimono. So I pointed at them and asked, "What about her? Why don't I ask her about letting me borrow a kimono?"

Ace and Thatch looked from me to the black haired person then at each other. They remained absolutely silent for a few seconds before they burst out laughing only after they failed to contain the chuckles they had tried to conceal by wavering straight faces. While Ace fell back and to the deck, Thatch used one of the masts to support himself with one arm as the other clutched his stomach.

"I-I-I-I-Izo." They finally managed to stutter out a name. "Is a guy." Thatch informed me and instantly I did a double take.

"And h-he's the sixteenth . . . d-division commander." Ace added as he managed to stand up and wipe his tears, still not completely done laughing at my mistake.

"I'm sorry. I-I'll go apologize."

But before I could get to walking my shoulder was grabbed and Ace said, "No. No need to tell him. It'll be another one of our secrets alright?" After getting me to nod he grabbed my near completely purple wrist saying, "Good." Even as I was pulled over to the guy I had just called a girl. "Yo Izo." He called waving excitedly at the guy who glanced at me before regarding Ace warily, as if he thought that he was up to something.

"What do you want?" He even sounded really suspicious, which made me wonder exactly what Ace had done to make him so weary.

"Just two things." Ace announced holding up two fingers before briefly introducing me and Izo.

"And the second thing?" He asked somehow knowing that the first was an introduction.

"One of your kimonos."

The rather pale guy rolled his eyes and said 'I suppose' obviously none too thrilled about loaning it to me.

"Thank you Mr. Izo. I will return it when my clothing is dry."

I didn't get to hear his response because I was dragged off by Ace once again. I was pulled into someone's room. "That's the closet." He pointed at a door across the room.

So I slowly went over to it and got out one of the garments before quietly closing the door. I didn't want to know how he knew where Izo's closet was.

"Uh . . . Ace." I said noticing how he wasn't turning away, covering his eyes or making an effort to leave the room. And he just hummed at me in response. "I need to change."

"Uh-huh."

He wasn't getting it. "Please get out."

"Wha-oh. . . oooh. Don't worry it's nothing I haven't seen many times before."

I frowned. That was not the response that I had been expecting. I had been expecting something like 'ok' and then him getting out so that I could change into the kimono and out of my clothing. "I'm sure but please. I'd rather you not watch me change."

"Oh ok. But I got a real quick question before I do." He paused, waiting for my ok but when he realized that I was waiting for him to continue he did exactly that. "Are you still mad at me? I mean we didn't exactly leave each other on the best foot." He reached up and scratched the back of his head.

"Mad?" I had to think about why I'd be mad at him. But once I got it I let out a little chuckle. Mad, Ace thought that I had been mad when I had run off so abruptly. "I was never mad Ace. I-I was just scared. I mean the things I was thinking, what I was doing, you saw what I was doing to him- I was intending to let him live and suffer." I shook my head. "I mean I know it was your fire but I was directing it for the most part."

"I would have killed him with or without you telling me to do so."

I nodded well aware of the fact. But there was something different about him killing someone and me using him to kill someone. "I know but . . . I-I made him suffer-"

"He deserved it Willow. And besides letting him live wouldn't have been a smart choice."

"I know." It was one of the reasons that I had told Ace to kill him before running off. I hadn't wanted to see him do the job.

"Sooooo are we-"

"Yes. Now get out." I grabbed him by the shoulders, twisted him around and walked him out of Izo's room. I changed as quickly as I could; peeling off the wet clothing that clung to my drying skin. I opened the door and took a step out, only for my foot to catch on the hem of the kimono and send me flying forwards. I fell into Ace and surprisingly enough he stumbled back and his feet got tangled up and he went crashing to the floor.

-Ace-

We lay there in the middle of the hallway with wet clothing strew all around us because Willow had thrown her arms up when she had tripped.

Between the two of us I gathered my bearings first and quickly grabbed the front of Izo's kimono and pulled it closed despite my previous comment, and said, "We need to get you a belt." She could not go wearing it as open as Izo did.

"You mean sash?" Willow asked her face bright cherry red as she tried to scramble off of me but only succeeded in tangling herself up and landing in the space besides me.

"Yeah that too." I rolled over had had far more success in getting to my feet then she had and offered her a hand. She accepted it without question unlike last few times I had offered her a hand.

So after a bit of searching we finally found something to keep the front of the purple kimono closed for Willow, who kept tripping over the too long hem, apologizing and blushing. It was kind of cute when she was all flustered and red in the face, and certainly hard not to laugh at.

After that little problem was fixed I introduced her to the rest of the division commanders in numerical order.

"Ace." She said as I began showing her important parts and rooms of the ship.

"What?" I asked continuing along.

"Your grip is really tight. It's starting to hurt."

"Oh. Sorry." I looked down at my hand to see that I did indeed have a hold of her wrist. Wait why was it all black and bruised and purple!? Had I done that to her?! I had forgotten that I had even had ahold of her wrist. Oh well. I loosened my grip but didn't release her wrist.

"Thanks but um . . . I sincerely apologize but I'm never going to remember any of their names."

"It's ok, you're a newbie. You'll learn." I easily dismissed it. Forgetting names wasn't going to kill anyone. And it wasn't like anyone was going to take her head for it. Besides the girl had only been on the ship for a few hours at the most. And I suppose she might be overwhelmed by everything and everyone. "Oh hey, why did you get chased out of town?" I asked remembering the mob of people gathering at the docks as I watched her swim for her life towards the ship.

"Because I went into town to do a few errands and then eat but after I ordered everyone swarmed and tried to get me."

"Everyone? And you escaped?" Well obviously she had escaped because she was here but I was still surprised. If everyone jumped her and she escaped then that meant that she had to have fought right? Or maybe everyone wasn't a lot of people.

"D-don't look so surprised." She muttered looking away from me, unhooking her hair from behind her ear and blocking her face from view.

Reaching towards her I re tucked the hair behind her ear grumbling, "Stop doing that." Hair isn't a shield and shouldn't be used as such.

"Sorry."

"And the apologizing."

"Sorry." She muttered and I hung my head. Seeing this action she said, "I did it again. I'm sorry." Her eyes widened and she was about to apologize for the previous apology but I clamped my hand over her mouth and said,

"So how did you get out if everyone swarmed you?"

"Well those punches you showed me came in handy as did all of that dining and dashing. When I was little my mom discouraged fighting as much as my dad but she always said to use your mouth, as in bite and scream a lot. . . .So I . . . I uh bit a few people. And my dad he'd always say use your knees and elbows and stuff. So I did that too. After that . . . well I improvised and ran like a bat out of you know where-"

"Hell?" I asked. Did she have problems cursing? Even saying hell? Hell wasn't that bad of a word and she was currently referring to the place so I didn't quite see the bid deal.

She nodded. "And then they chased me all around town and then I accidentally went towards the docks and it was more or less a life or death situation."

Man I really wish I could have been there to watch this, to watch such a shy and reserved for the most part person such as Willow fight. I clapped her on the back. "That's one step in the right direction." At least she could somewhat get herself out of a situation with normal civilians.

"Hey Ace." Someone called from behind me. Turning around I saw Marco. "Have you shown her the barracks yet?

I shook my head. "We were heading towards the galley."

Marco rolled his eyes at me. Honestly he should've known. "Well take a detour to Myra's room." I must have given him a blank look because he sighed and said, "That one room that's always locked."

"The one between our rooms?" I asked. I didn't particularly care about the room but I was certainly curious about it and why Willow got to stay in it.

"Yeah kick down the door if you have to. I think that would be the best place for her. Unless of course she wants to be around more females then show her the nurse's quarters or see if Cole will take her in."

I nodded and before we began heading for that room I looked at Willow to see her looking between the two of us with this confused expression on her face. Letting out a chuckle I grabbed her wrist and began heading to the barracks part of the ship.

"There might also be some more fitting clothing for her as well." Marco said before I could get too far.

I gave him a backwards wave to show that I had heard him. "You like your seclusion right?" I asked figuring the last place she wanted was the nurse's quarters. She mutely nodded. "So you'll be fine alone right?"

Again she nodded and I considered telling her to be more talkative and vocal but figured that would be a waste of breath. So I said the next thing that came to mind. "I mean you won't be alone. Marco's room is on one side and mine is on the other. Also the division commander's quarters are in numerical order down the hallway. Marco's, mine, Jozu's, Thatch's and so on until Izo's room which is that last one."

I explained to her and with that and a few moments of silence we came to the door. I tried it already knowing that it was locked from the inside. "I think we have to kick it down. Alright Willow, kick it down." I told her.

Her head snapped my direction and she asked, "E-excise me?" while giving me this sharp disbelieving look.

I nodded. "Yeah. Just put your foot up like so," I demonstrated how she should do it because there was no doubt in my mind that little ol Willow had never kicked down a door or climbed a fence or had done anything like that before. Then I added, "Then just kick in."

"Like that?" She asked lightly doing exactly as I had showed her. After getting my nod of approval she repeated the action but harder, with a lot more force but not enough to actually do any damage to or open it.

"Try again." I encouraged her when the first kick didn't send it flying in. So she obeyed me and tried again a few times. After several attempts I told Willow that I'd do it. But even then I had to take several tries before finally succeeding in kicking the door in.

However I ended up exerting a bit too much force and when the now splintered door flew in loud, rather bad sounding crashes, thumps and bangs followed as well as this concerned look from Willow.

Laughing I ruffled her hair and said, "Oops. That'll be fixed by time you're ready to sleep." Whenever that was.

She didn't look too convinced as she hesitantly stepped into the dark room. Dim light filtered through a thickly covered in dust porthole. My hand felt around the wall near the doorframe in hopes of finding the light switch and shedding some light into the room. Of course if that didn't work then I had a backup plan. Fortunately- or maybe it was unfortunate, I can't tell- I did find the light and when I flipped the switch the light flicked on but stayed on.

Well there was the reason that it had been so hard to kick down the door. It had been the over turned bed and the dresser that had slammed into the wall had cracked a bit but was still usable. The room itself was dusty, like it hadn't been touched in forever. There were footprints behind us, showing where we had already stepped and where he hadn't yet touched.

"Looks like you have a bit of cleaning to do. I'll go get you a bucket and a scrubby." I said.

If the door had been locked and barricaded how the hell had that blasted woman gotten out of this room? The only other exit was the round porthole and it didn't open. It could probably be broken but that would be pretty hard since the glass was pretty hard. But the problem with that theory was that the glass was unbroken, it was filthy but there wasn't a single crack on its surface. So again I wondered how she had gotten out.

"O-ok." She muttered.

"I'll see what kind of new bedding that I can scrounge up." I said turning to go and get that stuff but at the door I turned around and asked, "Are you sure you want to do all of this work? You can just bunk with Cole or the nurses."

She looked up form something on a still in tack, not affected from the break in, desk. "Yeah it's fine. I mean I'll have to get used to working right? Plus it's nothing compared to rebuilding a stone wall. It's just a bit of dusting and scrubbing. I can handle that much."

"I suppose since you're a newbie and all . . . But are you sure you want to start working before you have to?"

"Ace, it's my room someone's gotta clean it. And if I don't who will?"

"True but . . . are you sure?" This was her last chance to back out, to get out of having to clean this room. I know that if I had the option I wouldn't do it, not unless i absolutely had to.

Willow let out a small chuckle. "Are you trying to get me out of doing all of this work?"

"Of course! No need to do more then you have to."

"Well I have to clean this room."

"Well you don't have to." I informed her emphasizing the word have because she had other options, several ways of escaping the work.

"I'm aware but could you please go get me that bucket and scrubby?"

"Fine fine fine if you want to do work I'll be back." And with that I left the room to get the cleaning supplies . . . wherever those were.

I usually avoided cleaning whenever I could; faked narcoleptic attacks helped a lot. And why do it when you could get newbies or the lower crew members do it? Especially when there was food to be eaten, naps to be taken and narcoleptic –fake or real- attacks to conveniently have.

-Willow-

I didn't really have any qualms about cleaning the room that would be mine all mine. I didn't mind especially when it got me out of sharing quarters and when it was something to keep me occupied for a bit, out of the pirate's sights minds and ways.

As I waited for Ace to return I examined the room. It was about the size of my bedroom back in the forest. The bed was in the middle of the room and the dresser was a bit damaged because of Ace but it still held clothes. One drawer had fallen out and the top one was spilling clothing form it. So I decided that I'd start there.

I folded the spilled garments and put them back in their respective drawers, shirts in one, undergarments in another, pants in a different one and other things in the bottom. I took the remaining drawers out and moved it out of the just barely bed sized space and then slid the bed there. It was a perfect match. I put the drawers back into the dresser after I put that against the wall.

Straightening I looked around to see if there was anything else I could do while waiting for Ace to return. There was nothing but I was kind of afraid to venture out. I had witnessed Ace's strength and I had a feeling that almost every time I had witnessed it he had been playing.

I began pacing around the room, leaving footprints as if the thick dingy dust was pure freshly lain snow. I came to a stop in front of the desk bolted to the floor with an old antique mirror resting against the wall against it. On the top was a piece of yellowed paper. On either side were oddly shaped things that had been stabbed into the wood.

They looked like weapons. They looked like circles that had been cut in half and then those halves were scooted over so that they formed a handle and four curved, claw like points that stabbed into the paper and the desk. One of the points was longer than the other three. The lengthened crescent had a wrap around it so that the other appeared to be a hand guard.

Through the thick dust I was able to just barely make out the words printed in quick scrawled writing. And those words spelled out F-l-i-p o-v-e-r. So with a bit of difficulty I managed to pull the things out of the wood of the desk and freed that paper so that I could listen to the instructions and flipped it over.

I had to read the first few lines several times over. And even then I couldn't believe what I was reading. I felt as though I shouldn't be reading it but I couldn't help it.

The first line apologized about the broken window that must have been fixed from the outside. Then there was an apology to Marco about not working out and some age difference. There was also an apology about leaving the crew, her wonderful family, for some young Marine vice admiral, in whom she couldn't help but have fallen for during their many clashes with the Marines.

"Here ya go Willow." Ace voice cheerily said shattering my thoughts. Upon hearing his voice I slammed the paper down onto the desk face down and whipped towards him my heart pounding loudly in the middle of my throat.

His brow furrowed and he cocked his head to the side giving me this confused look. "You ok?" He took a step towards me.

"Uh . . . Yeah- yeah fine. Thanks for the stuff." i said stepping towards him and away from the desk so he wouldn't get the chance to see it or read it.

"Oh. No problem." He grinned widely and said, "The bedding's outside the door when you're ready or whenever it's needed. If it goes missing come and get me."

Why would bedding to missing? I wondered. Who the heck would want to snatch bedding?

"Also if you need anything you can always find and ask Marco, Pops, myself or any of the division commanders."

I nodded but I knew that I wasn't going to any of the other division commanders or Whitebeard if I needed help. I might go to Marco, after all I had a note that was around twenty five years late to deliver.

"I wouldn't trust anyone else to honestly tell you what you need to know." Ace told me.

With another silent nod I went over to the bucket at the door and knelt down next to it before fishing the scrubby out of it.

First I'd fix up the floors and then what I could reach of the walls and when I was done with that I'd clean all of the furniture. I expected Ace to leave, to find something to do or to go to the kitchen to get some food but then again maybe that's what had taken him so long to get the stuff.

But what I expected and what he did was two different things. He perched on the dirty bed and began talking to either me or himself, I couldn't quite tell. "We'll also get this bed bolted to the floor so you don't go sliding around in the middle of the night while you're sleeping in it." He let out a laugh as though he found the idea a little more than just amusing. "Damn woman, looks like she tried to bolt the bed in front of the door. No wonder no one got in there for so long."

There was a pause where I was supposed to contribute to the conversation he was trying to start up but I didn't quite know what to say. Usually when that happens it's best to keep my mouth shut and let them either drop the conversation or to let them continue on with the mild disappointment that I had nothing to say to them.

"So you sure got quite the surprise today didn't you?" I nodded with a quiet yeah.

Actually I had gotten quite a few surprises today and it wasn't even over yet. This morning when I had woken up I would have never imagined that I wouldn't be going to sleep in my own bed, that I'd be on a pirate ship and that I'd have not only learned a bit about my parents but also had the chance to meet the great and powerful Whitebeard.

Again Ace laughed. "So your dad was a vice admiral huh. Is that why you didn't want to talk about him before?"

"I didn't know." I honestly told him. "I thought it was a game. He was always vice admiral Tristan and my mom was always the Blue Blur. It was an ongoing game throughout my childhood. To me it was nothing more, nothing less. But it's still rather painful to bring up with the both of them gone. So why didn't you want to talk about your dad?" I asked more or less returning the question.

We lapsed into silence and I thought that he wasn't going to answer but eventually he did.

"It doesn't matter. Pops is my only father."

"It won't change my opinion about you." I tried to get who his real father had been out of him assuming he even knew. Maybe Ace didn't want to tell me because he didn't want to admit that he didn't know.

"Trust me it really doesn't make any difference whether you now it to not. But I'll tell you if you guess correctly."

"Ace." I couldn't help but whine. I wasn't that good at guessing and where would I even start?

"Don't wanna guess do you?" He let out a laugh. "Then I guess you don't want the answer. That's just a shame Willow."

When I paused and looked up at him I saw that he was smiling almost cheekily at me. "So what were you like as a child?"

That was kind of random. I thought. But I decided that I should answer him. There was no harm in telling him, plus it was something to do besides absent mindedly scrub the floors.

"Well you see I was more outgoing, more fun and open. But you know . . . things, they happen and change people."

"Like parent's deaths." He said as if reading my mind.

I nodded and changed the subject of the conversation to him and quickly asked, "So what about you? What were you like as a child?"

"I got into a lot of fights. I was quite . . . rude I suppose, until I had discovered that Shanks for saving my little brothers life. Then Makino helped me with that. I was- still am- quite . . . protective I guess you could say. If anyone dares to insult or harm the few people I actually care about for in this world there will be hell to pay."

From his tone I didn't doubt a single word. But I couldn't help but smile at the last bit. It was kind of cute to be honest. "I see." Was all I offered him.

Why did him and Luffy seem to know everyone important? First Ace and Whitebeard and now Luffy and The Red Haired Shanks. Dear lord!

"So how old are you Ace?" I randomly asked figuring that we were just randomly asking each other random questions. Plus I was afraid that if the impending silence wasn't filled that it would creep in and things would get a bit uncomfortable again.

"Between the ages of seventeen and twenty one." Was all he offered me. But he didn't fail to return the question.

"Same thing." I told him with a playful smile, revealing no more or less about my age then he had.

"No fair." Ace pouted like Luffy did when he didn't get his way with his lips stuck out.

"Sorry. So have you always gone around shirtless?" I asked. Not that it was bothering me I was just wondering. I wondered how much trouble it had gotten him into and I don't mean no shirt no shoes no service kind of trouble.

The rest of the day continued on like this.

I would clean, we would talk and constantly members of the Whitebeard crew would stop by, stick their heads in just to see the newbie they had already heard wild tales of, of a wild rescue courtesy of Marco. They would say hi- in more or less words- occasionally introduce themselves, converse a bit with Ace and then go about their piratey business.

And just like when I was collecting rocks for my wall, I found that I not only really enjoyed Ace's company but I was thankful for it.

"Don't you have other things you gotta be doing?" I asked standing up and stretching, finally done with the floor and what I could reach of the walls from my hands and knees.

"Nah." He said. Ace had a few of his sleep attacks during his stay but when he woke up again the conversation continued as though nothing had happened, as though there had been no pause, which I found rather amusing to be honest.

"Do you have better things to do then watch me work?" I tried, standing on my tiptoes to reach as high as I could of the wall. But it wasn't working very well.

"Nah." He stood too and stretched as well. Besides what's the point? Dinner's about to be served and after dinner I'll introduce you to more people alright?" There was that excited light in his eyes dancing dangerously.

I shook my head. "I-I'd rather not. Maybe- maybe we could find some art supplies?" Was that too much to ask for on a pirate ship? I had left all of mine behind and even if I hadn't it would have been ruined anyway.

"Oh, hey let's go get your clothes and toss Izo's clothes into the wash for him." I didn't get the chance to argue because I was dragged away, willing or not.

I had just barely slipped into my white skirt, sandals- yes they had thrown those into the dryer as well- and blue tank top with swirling white designs on it when some kind of bell rang, the door of the washroom was flung open and I was dragged out of the room behind Ace, who was actually running, his eyes lit up as he happily exclaimed, "Dinner!" As I was dragged behind him he explained how we could eat whenever but dinner was the only meal that was served at a certain time.

Unfortunately after slipping into the galley I lost track of him. So I just followed the flow of people and got my food. But that was just the first challenge. Now holding my plate of food I faced another challenge, where the heck was I supposed to sit? Most of the already sitting, talking, eating and drinking people looked quite unapproachable and I couldn't find Thatch, Marco or Ace for the life of me.

"Yo girlie!" A voice shouted, catching my attention. When I looked towards the voice I couldn't find its owner. "Yeah you. Come over here." And with that I sighted a waving hand that brought my attention to a woman with two very heavily tatted arms. When we made eye contact she gestured for me over to her somehow empty table.

So slowly I headed that way figuring that I had nothing to lose. Tentatively I took a seat.

"So what's the big idea?" she instantly snapped at me.

I looked up at her but didn't answer.

The woman had blonde hair that was cropped close to her head, which reminded me a bit of peach fuzz but a bit thicker. And in the middle was a bunch of hair that if spiked would make a bad-ass looking Mohawk. That strip of hair was wildly dyed with unnamable hues of purple and pink. Her face was sharp and narrow. She had a nose piercing and many ear piercings on one ear. Her skin was lightly tanned and her eyes a deep brown and narrowed at me.

She was wearing a red and black plaid shirt over a black tank top and she appeared to be pretty normal compared to some of the people that filled the galley.

"Are you sure you're not lost?" I shook my head. I wouldn't be here even if I were lost. "Look missy, if you're not lost and you're in fact a newbie you need to revamp your wardrobe."

"What's wrong with this?" I asked looking down at myself. Trust it wasn't as hard and edgy as her style was but I didn't see what was so wrong with it.

"Normally nothing. It's not my cup of ale but you're now on a pirate ship. You will be fighting and running for your life. Not only will those clothes snag but no one will be able to take you seriously in that little miss innocent garb you've got on now. You're currently a bloody piece of steak in infested waters."

"Oh." I was about to apologize but the woman didn't let me.

"But don't worry. I'll help you. Newbies tend to come in groups, like the Spade Pirates did. But I can tell you didn't. So you'll need a friend. Plus if you haven't noticed Pops sons outnumber his daughters half to one. I'm Nichole but the crew either calls me Cole or Nikki." And with those words she held a leather gloved hand over the table for me to shake.

I have to admit I was quite taken aback by the action.

"I-I'm Willow." I said lightly taking her hand and shaking it. Like my dad she had an iron grip and nearly crushed mine in hers.

At those words she hung her head with a heavy sigh. When she looked up she said, "Of course it is. I'm going to call you one of the following, Kiddo, missy or girlie."

"W-what's wrong with my name?" First my clothing and now my name. I could change the first of the two but not my name

"It's too soft. If I were a marine I'd think that you were a captive. Seriously girlie, you need to toughen up a bit. If not literally then just your look. Us girls have gotta stick together so when we're done I'll fix you up alright?"

"Um . . . o-ok." I really didn't think that I had an option. Plus she didn't seem as bad as she had initially seemed.

"So which division are you under?"

"Um . . ."

"Who did you come here with? Who brought you here?" She released another heavy sigh.

"Ace."

"Ah cool." She looked around me and shouted, "Yo Fire Fist give me a light!" As she shouted those words she reached under the table and pulled out a cigarette and put it to her lips. But when nothing happened she chuckled and pulled out a silver rectangular lighter and lit it herself. After taking a long drag she said, "He's out cold. Wanna join me on the deck?"

Again I don't think that I had much of a choice so quietly I followed her leaving my half-finished food there on the table, not entirely sure what to do with it.

Once out there she strolled over to the rail of the deck and leaned against it with her elbows and after blowing out a long stream of smoke she asked, "So how did Fire Fist pick up someone like you?"

I didn't know if I should be insulted or not. "Long story." I tried hoping that I wouldn't have to explain it all to her.

Cole flipped open the top of a tin box fastened to the waistband of her pants and examined it before saying, "Trust me we have time. I mean I know 'bad guys' attract good girls and whatever but you're totally out of your element here."

"I got chased out of town because of a few things that we had done." I offered the bare minimal.

"Things like what?"

"Dine and dashing. I also sortta mutilated someone with his help."

She chuckled quietly. "Fire Fist doesn't need help mutilating people." I didn't even know how to respond to that and I guess that she saw that because she continued on. "So how exactly did that work?"

"Well he- it's not of your business." I managed. "But I grabbed Ace's wrists and he let me direct his fire that's all. So what do you do on the ship?" I didn't bother being discreet about my want to change the subject of our conversation. It was best if I forgot about that part of that otherwise flawless night. The entire night itself was not worth forgetting, just the burned still moving, moaning and begging for release from the suffering I had brought down on him, the burned, hardly recognizable as human on the beach was worth forgetting though.

"I can take a hint. But I'm the tattoo artist. I mark people as Pop's. I welcome them to the family and put his mark on their bodies." Her tone was cool and nonchalant but the little smile that only turned up the corners of her mouth showed that she was rather proud of her job.

"You're an artist?"

"Yeah. What about you?" Maybe she had caught the excitement in my voice or maybe she had caught up on another hint that I might have dropped.

"I paint or draw, just not on flesh." I muttered. There was no way in heck that I'd be able to do it on people's flesh.

"Cool." After flicking the still glowing but into the ocean she turned around and rested her back against the rail and looked at me. "Since you're not bunkin' with me where exactly are you bunking? Not with the nurses right?" I shook my head. "Good. They come and go so often that it'll make your pretty little head spin. I'm quite sure Pops wouldn't let you bunk with the rest of the crew you being a girl and all. Oh and just a quick side note, don't let all of the big boys intimidate you and don't hide behind people either- namely Fire Fist." When she was that I wasn't going to say anything on the matter she let out a light short sigh. "You're going to have to talk, to learn to speak up you know that girlie."

"Sorry."

"And only apologize when you need to." There was a pause. "So where are you bunking then?"

"Between Marco's and Ace's rooms." I told her.

Her eyes lit up with curiosity but Cole herself maintained her cool as she spoke. "Really? Show me."

And with that we went to my room. Turns out the door had been replaced, put back on its hinges and replaced. The bed had also been bolted to the floor during my absence.

"Cool the room came stocked with great clothes." She said pulling some things out of the drawers that she had instantly began rummaging though. "Look just wear this stuff and you'll be good. Ditch the skirt and innocent look a.s.a.p." And with a wave over her shoulder before walking out.

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A/N: In comparison to usual this is a super long chapter . . . and there's not really much action but there will be next chapter (just a bit). But I hoped you enjoyed it anyway.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	14. Chapter 14

"Ready?" Ace asked smiling at me.

I shook my head.

No.

I don't know why they thought that this was even a semi remotely good idea. Because trust me it wasn't, not at all. I hadn't even been a pirate for a full three days and now they- namely Ace- thought that it would be a good idea for me to accompany them on the raid that kept getting closer and closer to Whitebeards ship.

"Why not? This will be fun."

Fun? I wanted to let out a groan but I bit my tongue and held it in. I didn't want to have this kind of fun.

"Ace I've been a pirate for less than a day." I tried to reason with him since a day was twenty four hours and if I had made it past the mark then it was only by a few hours. I had already tried to play the 'I don't know what I'm doing' card but that had failed. As had the 'I'm new' card and the few other cards that I had tried to play so that I could get out of doing this. I really didn't want to take part in anything resembling a raid, or the Whitebeard Pirate's idea of a raid, or what they called a raid.

"You gotta start somewhere." He said with another wide grin.

"Ace." I half whined half whispered. "I'll be in everyone's way and god only knows I'll get hurt or screw things up in some way shape and or form." I don't understand why I couldn't just sit this one out and just watch them do their thing the first time.

"Willow." He mocked the tone that I had used against him. But I doubted that I sounded like that or made my arms look like the flopping mess he had made his look as he half whispered half whined my name. "I'll be right next to you. And besides these guys are no match for us."

"For you maybe. I don't know if you didn't notice but the only things I know how to throw are those punches that you showed me. And I'm not exactly a thief and this isn't exactly my thing."

"You'll grow to love it. So do you want to swing over there or run across a plank?" Ace asked we pulled only meters away from the ship, nothing that long planks of wood couldn't fix, or really good jumpers couldn't cover.

"Neither." I grumbled at him.

"Swinging's more fun." He said as he wrapped an arm around my waist and went with the first of the two options he had given me.

When his feet slammed onto the deck he let me go and instantly punched someone's front teeth out. And when their large- three times Ace's size- body fell back he grabbed the sword and scabbard that had been slipped into the orange sash around his waist.

"There you go a weapon. If anyone who's not a crewmate approaches swing first and ask questions later." Ace told me before dashing off, ducking under somebody's leg and then slammed a flaming fist into another person's gut. I didn't even have to see his face to know that he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

And I obeyed his instructions, swinging blinding at anyone and anything who came near me. But I didn't kill anyone. And from what I could tell that wasn't really the goal.

"Willow." A voice said from behind me as cold fingers touched the skin of my arm.

Letting out a rather embarrassing scream I whorled around using the scabbard like a baseball bat. Instead of colliding with something solid- like their head neck or jaw- the black bat like weapon holder went through someone's head and the force that I had put into that left me spinning in a circle. Or rather I would have had an arm not reached out and a hand firmly grabbed ahold of my shoulder to keep me from spiraling to the deck of the enemy's ship.

Soft laughter reached my ears as I realized that the person who had tapped me was none other than Marco. Behind him stood Thatch who was saying, "I told you not to sneak up behind her like that."

But Marco paid him no mind. "I was thinking that you'd rather come search for their money with us then have to stay up here and fight."

"Considering you didn't even take the sword out of its scabbard." Thatch pointed out. "What damage were you trying to do to the people attacking you by swinging that thing around?" He asked.

I just shrugged and nodded at Marco. I didn't exactly agree with stealing money from people but I suppose they could always get more. Not only that but we were already here.

When I agreed a lazy smile appeared on Marco's face and I was led below their deck.

I thought that we were going to have a difficult time finding the treasure, valuables, and money that the crew had but it was apparent that the two commanders that I was accompanying didn't need my help; that they had done this a million times. The two of them talked and joked around about how they should really invest in making it more difficult for them to do their jobs as they collected the things and as we ransacked their valuables before quickly making off with them before we could be noticed.

Once we made it back to- dare I say it?- our deck the Whitebeard pirates all came back to Whitebeards ship and once the last member had made it across they pulled away the planks and with that we left them in the dust, stranded and without money. Well at least we hadn't destroyed their ship or killed everyone or left them in small lifeboats or anything like that. I mean I guess that wasn't too bad on the scale of horrible piratey things that the crew could have done to them.

"Girlie I see you haven't taken my advice yet." A voice said as I began following Marco and Ace to wherever we needed to put the bags of stuff.

"I'll take this." Thatch said taking the bag from my shoulders and slinging it over his other shoulder as if it weighted nothing. And I knew that it weighed quite a lot.

"Thanks." I muttered as Cole approached me.

"So what'd you think of your first raid?" She asked.

I just shrugged unsure of the words that I could use to describe what I had just done. My heart was pounding so loudly and I knew that my guilt was supposed to be overriding all of my senses, taking over my conscious but I couldn't think past the adrenaline.

She just smiled at me almost knowingly. "Thrilling isn't it." There was a pause that acted as an agreement on my part. "So why exactly are you still wearing that skirt and those girlie clothes? I told you that you don't want to go around in outfits like that." Today her arms were bare except for a spider that I swear was purely black ink with a red hourglass on its back. And I sweat that thing was moving all up her arms and even up her neck.

"Um . . ." I felt stupid just standing there with what I now felt was an inadequate excuse. To be honest I was trying to work up the courage to put on such revealing, short and tiny clothes like that.

"Well fix it soon." She said before giving me a stern nod and walking off before I could verbally question my sanity, to question if I was seeing things.

There was no way that the tattooed spider had been moving right? But then again the trees in the forest not a few days behind us moved and that wasn't such an abstract idea.

The rest of the day passed at a sluggish speed until a certain time and then before I knew it I was feeling tired and decided to turn in for the night. I changed and climbed into bed. As it turns out most of the crew had hammocks.

The sound of the ocean slowly eased me out of my dreams, out of my deep sleep. But even when I was fully awake I just lay there not wanting to get up. I really didn't have to unless someone wanted me to do something. I could waste away all day- or most of it- in my bed, cocooned in the warmth and the covers.

I could but I didn't want to. So I kicked off the covers and grabbed a think well used, nearly out of paper sketchpad that Cole had managed to scrounge out for me. It didn't take any longer than a few minutes for me to lose myself in not only my drawing but also my head.

Unfortunately it wasn't too long before a knock at my door startled me out of my trance. "D-do you need a-anything?" I asked looking up to see Marco standing at my doorway. I felt as though I should have heard him opening the door because I closed it before I went to bed last night.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked ignoring my question, sounding as if he genuinely cared.

"Yes. Very good thank you." His question had come to me as a bit of a surprise because I was on a pirate ship and everything.

"That's good. Pop's wants me to start your training."

"Training?" I felt stupid sitting there cross legged on my bed with the sketchpad on my lap. It was quite obvious what training was supposed to ensue. But I still had a feeling that I didn't want to know.

Marco nodded his head and answered my unasked question instead of the one I had just uttered. "Armed and unarmed combat, self-defense and that's it I believe. Could you grab your dear horns- the crescent shaped blades- and tell me what you know?" I must have given him a blank look or something because added, "The things on the desk. Those were Myra's you know."

"Oh. Hey speaking of my mom." Actually it was the desk part of his sentence that had reminded me of the note. "Here." I said after grabbing to two blade thingies he had called both deer horns and crescent blades and the note that I had meant to give him yesterday. "She left this for you." I held it out for him and he took the piece of paper, didn't give it as much as a glance before folding it in half twice and sticking it into his pocket.

"Follow me." He said turning around.

I did and we arrived in a large room with matted floors and a wall that was made up of mirrors. There was also a shooting range that ran parallel to the width of the room.

"Alright Willow. Show me what you've got. Don't worry about hurting me." Marco said turning to face me once he had reached the center of the room.

I felt awkward holding the weapons that I had been told to grab and being expected to swing them at him as I would an enemy. "A-Are you sure?" I asked shifting my weight uncomfortably.

Because even if he was, I wasn't. Not at in the least.

"You couldn't hurt me even if you tried. But if it makes you feel better I can heal up any injuries you give me."

I let out a heavy sigh seeing that I wasn't going to win this. That for every argument I'd have against lifting my weapons and aiming to hit him with them he'd have reasons lined up and ready for why I shouldn't be concerned.

So I slowly walked to the middle of the room, having lingered just inside the door and when I reached him I swung at him. He didn't even step back, or flinch as a matter of fact.

"Willow if you don't attack me like you mean it I'll be forced to attack you." And before I could try again, more seriously this time, Marco pulled his now clenched fist back and rocketed it towards me as if he meant for it to collide with whatever part of me he was aiming for.

When I realized that he actually meant to punch me I ducked under his fist and mocked the uppercut that Ace had taught me. His head snapped back but instead of attacking me again or yelling at me he rubbed his chin with a smile and said, "Good."

He continued sloppily attacking me with wide open blows without much speed or force. But gradually his attacks became swifter, with less openings and far more force than he had started with. He also started moving and attacking at different angles. Most of the time I was unable to attack, just dodge and flail about in hopes of actually hitting him.

I was successful in cutting him a few times but in turn he had managed to disarm me and wretch both weapons out of my hands, embedding them both in the non-mirrored walls.

"Good job kid." He said straightening up and wiping his brow.

Unlike Marco who was still standing I was laying on the ground in the position I had landed on from the last blow Marco had delivered and landed.

"G-good?" I panted getting up and walking over to my weapons to try and get them out of the wall in which they were deeply embedded in. "How- how was that good?" He could have literally beaten the life out of me if he had wanted to.

"Here let me get that." He said his voice not far behind me as he reached around me and grabbed ahold of the handle of the bladed weapon.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	15. Chapter 15

-Marco-

I didn't know if I was impressed or disappointed with Willow's skill, or lack of.

She was the child of a retired and possibly dead vice admiral and a pirate. But then again maybe she had always been protected and was never given the chance to fight. It was hard to tell.

Despite having not been to her house, I knew that it was a small cottage like structure that was dead smack in the middle of a clearing. The front door was red and that it was tucked away in the forest, a good thirty minute walk to the outskirts of town. Ace had given me a loooong description of her cute little house- his exact words.

Honestly the distance from people was a smart decision on her parent's parts, considering who they were. Her father could be hunted after being labeled as a traitor and for committing treason, and her mother for quite a hefty bounty.

The weapons weren't too difficult to pull out of the wall and as I handed them back to her I answered her question. "Your reflexes are swift like your mothers. And your dodging skills are pretty good- it's a good skill to have if you're not a logia type like Ace." She nodded but said nothing, not even to the part about her mother that I hadn't let slip. But Willow was really a spitting image minus the eyes and her nose and a few other small minuscule things like that.

"The next thing isn't half as taxing. Come on." I led her over to the unmarred by gunshots as of yet red and white targets. I loaded a pistol and handed it to her, telling her to hit the red dot in the middle, or as close as she could manage.

"How many shots do I get?" she nervously asked turning it over in her hands before holding it with one hand, then two.

"Let's say that target is an enemy who's going to kill you if you don't make this final shot. So let's try one." I knew that was pushing it but if I told her that she could use all five she wouldn't try as hard. I had learned that with the first newbie I had the joy (sense the sarcasm?) of training.

"O-oh. Ok. D-don't be surprised if I put a hole through the wall please."

Did she expect herself to be that bad? Granted her mother wasn't the best at shooting and I couldn't say anything about her father but she should at least be able to hit the outer red ring around the target.

Her grip was shaky and unsteady but she took aim, studied her target with great intensity and concentration before she finally pulled the trigger. The bullet only clipped the first white ring around the bulls eye, which unfortunately wasn't good enough. If she had that one bullet to use to end somebodies life they would have a slim chance of living because of the fact that her aim was off just that much.

"Here's where you are now." I slowly said gently talking the gun front her hand after cocking it, without a single glance sideways at the target I fired it, leaving a clean hole dead center of the bulls eye. "And there's where you need to be."

Of course we had our sharp shooters like Izo and we also had the people who couldn't do any better than she could currently. But the difference between those people and her were that not only were they experienced fighters but they also had certain skills to fall back on, weapons win which they specialized with. Currently Willow was practically a blank slate. Pops had thought it best, after yesterday's display of her skills- rather lack of- that she would be taught multiple things until she could create and adapt to the style of fighting that most suited her and that she adapted to the best and preferred the most.

"S-seriously?" She asked looking between me and the target.

I nodded and ruffled her hair. "No need to worry. This is only your second day after all. However I want you to finish off the round and I'll be right back."

"O-ok then." Willow managed sounding quite unsure.

It wasn't until she had turned back towards the target that I turned and left the training room to find Vista, who would assist her in training with knives, blades and hopefully her mother's crescent blades.

Now that I thought about it maybe I should have had Izo teach her how to handle guns and pistols as well as her aim among other things. But I suppose that it was a bit too late for that.

I found vista training on the deck, making everybody have to go around him in order not to almost get their heads severed. I leaned back against the mast and for a few minutes quietly observed him before deicing to gain his attention. Though there was no doubt that he was aware of my presence.

Sheathing his sabers he asked, "What's up Marco?"

"I got an inexperienced with everything newbie that Pops wants trained." She needed trained and she'd get trained Pops orders or not. Because without training she was more of a liability and Ace would throw a fit about having to leave her on some random island. "You're the best swordsman on the ship so I thought you could help her develop better technique and skill then I'd be able to." Vista didn't need to now this but I didn't feel like training that girl in every aspect of fighting, plus she had to branch out a bit and grow accustomed to being in a large family, with lots of people around all of the time.

"Would you be referring to the girl that Ace dragged in? The one that he begged you to save?"

I nodded with a chuckle, remembering Ace's concerned expression as he watched her swim for her life. "That's the one, Myra's child." I couldn't believe that she had a child who was already in her late teens, early twenties.

Vista let out an almost nervous sounding laugh. "This oughtta be fun if she's anything like her mother."

"If the kid opens up, I think she'd be a lot like her mother. But she's quite reserved. If I were you, to get the best results, I'd try and engage her as much as possible, as often as you can. She also probably won't take the incentive to ask any questions she might have."

"Alright." Vista said and with that he began heading towards the training room.

"Oh and one more thing." I called, pausing and waiting for a response to show that he was listening. Once I got one I continued, "See if you can get her to use the crescents correctly, or at all would be a start." She had wielded them clumsily and they had hindered her fighting instead of improving it.

With a nod and the words 'yeah sure' Vista continued on his way to the training room where Willow unknowingly awaited for him.

-Ace-

"Wake up sleepy head!" I shouted suddenly bursting into Willow's room hoping to catch her off guard so that I could have the enjoyment of startling her. But looking around I realized that she wasn't even in the room, let alone actually asleep and still in her bed. She wasn't even in the process of dressing.

Well this was disappointing.

Actually I had literally just woken up a few minutes ago myself and was going to see if we could bother Thatch- who happened to be able to cook a bit- into making us breakfast because I knew that I had missed it and was too lazy to try and make anything myself. Not only that but I had long since been banned from doing anything other than eating in the galley. I could not even set foot in the kitchen, rather I wasn't supposed to.

However I had a backup plan for if Thatch denied us. And that was to make Willow cook. But both plan A and B went down the drain when I burst into the empty room.

With a frown I turned around wand walked out. At first I just searched for Willow, she was after all probably just lost somewhere on the ship. But after forever of searching I began asking around to see if anyone else knew what I didn't. But none of them were any help to me either.

"Yo Fire Fist." A voice shouted from behind me.

At the moment I was leaning over the side of the rails on the deck of the ship trying to think of where on earth Willow was. But I wasn't getting very far with all my thinking and brainstorming. Soon after the voice called to me someone rested their heavily tatted forearms against the rail only a few inches from mine.

"Give me a light?" the voice belonging to Cole asked as she pulled out an unlit cigarette from the tin box at her hip. Lazily I lit it and she took a long drag before blowing out rings of smoke. "Have you seen Willow today?" she asked and when I looked over at her she was grinning mischievously at me.

"Nah. But you didn't give her a tattoo, did you?" I could just see Willow getting drunk enough to get a tattoo. It was a good thing Cole had eaten her strange devil fruit that had something to do with tattoos and allowed her to do some weird things with them like peel them off of her body and they'd become real objects things or animals. I also knew that she could painlessly get rid of any tattoo mistakes that anyone might have made in the past or might make in the future, anything that Willow might accidentally get.

"Are you kidding, she may be soft but she would have my hide if I tatted her up. If you're looking for her by the way I passed her and Marco heading to the training room."

What?! Training already?! Why wasn't I put in charge of her training and why was I just now learning about this? "See ya." I gave Cole a thankful slap on her back before running off.

"Rawr!" I shouted sneaking up on Willow and lightly brushing my fingertips across her shoulders.

Screeching she jumped and a gunshot rang out. Something- most likely a bullet- passed through my chest and out of my back. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Willow's reaction to having shot me because my breath was coming in short ragged gasps between fits of near mute laughter. At first I was just doubled over. But then sound of her startled screech as well as how she had jumped kept replaying in my head and standing became too much of a challenge so my knees collapsed and I ended up falling to the ground. The scene just kept getting funnier and funnier until my sides were aching and my lungs were burning.

"A-ace!" Willow exclaimed dropping down to her knees next to me. Her small hands tried to maneuver me so that she could see my chest.

Oh did she think that I was hurt? I briefly wondered.

Upon opening my eyes I thought that I'd be met with the sight of wide and worried filled green eyes. And though her eyes were indeed both of those things my laughter instantly died and I asked, "Where the hell did you get that outfit?"

"M-my closet?" she said it as though it were more of a question and less of a fact.

"Shit." I cursed sitting up. Why was she wearing so little? That wasn't safe, and she didn't even know how to hold her own or defend herself to boot. Pops rules or not, someone might decide that they want to try and do something.

"D-does it look that bad?" she managed wrapping her arms around her bare torso as she sat back on her heels.

"No. Who picked this out?" I had my suspicions but then again I could be wrong.

"I-I did."

"Wait wait wait, hold up." I said waving my hands and shaking my head in disbelief. "You picked that out on your own free will?" There was no way, now when I had seen her pick out her own clothing for the past two weeks. Where was the light pastel colored skirts that reached her knees or the jean capris? Where was the shoulder bag, the light tank tops and modest tops? Well at least her sandals hadn't changed.

"Yes."

"Did anyone help you?"

"No. N-not really. They just told me that it looked o-ok. Should I go change?"

"Just stand up." I said doing exactly that myself.

Giving me a confused look she obeyed and once she had straightened up I quickly reached out and zipped up the front of the white sleeveless hoodie. Now her flat, smooth and bare torso and belly were covered along with the half tank top type thing that had succeeded in only covering her rather modest bust. Unfortunately the sleeveless hoodie was too long in length and covered the short black extra short shorts, leaving most of her thighs bare and giving her the appearance that she wasn't wearing any pants at all.

"I-is that better?" she asked trying to tug down the hem of the hoodie. So that bothered her but not the length of the extremely short shorts? How did that make any sense at all? Maybe it was woman logic.

I shook my head. No, it was words because she still appeared to be half naked. "No." with that I grabbed the zipper of the hoodie and pulled it back down.

"What the hell are you doing to the newbie Fire Fist?!" Vista's voice asked from behind me.

"Nothing!" I quickly said whirling around as fast as I could, leaving the hoodie only half zipped.

"Get out and find something productive to do Ace. The child doesn't want you messing with her." He said.

"Have fun training." I called to Willow before running out.

-Willow-

Did Ace not like what I was wearing?

Cole said that it was a step in the right direction and I sortta liked it. I mean it was short but I could live with that.

A tanned guy wearing a dark blue top hat and a curly mustache walked in right when Ace was unzipping the hoodie in which he had just zipped up.

I looked around the man wondering where Marco was as he began yelling at Ace without even actually yelling at him, he didn't have to raise his voice. I knew that he was one of the commanders I had briefly met yesterday but I couldn't remember which one he was or his name. But at least I remembered having seen him.

After telling me to have fun training, which I doubted would happen, he began to jog out. Oddly enough he didn't make it to the door, or past the new guy who had walked in. Mid stride Ace's head dropped only seconds before his body collapsed.

For a second I alternated between looking at his lying face down body and the new guy. I didn't quite know what to do since we weren't eating or in the middle of talking like we usually were when he had one of his sleep attacks.

"Move Fire Fist out of the way, grab a blade from that wall and we'll begin." He instructed.

So with an obedient nod I went over to Ace and grabbed his wrists. Unlike the last time I had to drag him I didn't care if I dragged him along the ground. The ground this time was smooth slightly cushioned mats, unlike last time when the ground had been full of twigs, sticks and, things that would have been more work for me to clean up once I got him home. I pulled him so the wall closest to the door and then just left him lying there as I went to retrieve a sword off the wall.

After grabbing a sword with a curve in the blade and a tip that jutted out from the top of the sword I went back to the man who smiled and said, "Falchion, good choice. You know your mother was quite fond of that one too." And with that we began my sword training. After a while it was evident that Marco wasn't coming back.

We trained long and hard with both the sword that I had chosen and the weapons that Marco had called crescent blades. At first it felt unnatural to hold it and swing it around even in slow motion, but I got the hang of it eventually.

When Ace woke up he didn't leave, just sat up, crossed his legs and watched. Occasionally he'd throw in comments, orders or a suggestion or so. Those were mostly thrown out there for me but occasionally they were for Vista, who had taken to calling me Kiddo and hadn't been offended that I had forgotten his name.

When Vista told me that we were done I had hardly managed to put the sword back in its rightful place on the wall when my wrist was grabbed.

"I've been waiting for food all day." The voice belonging to Ace impatiently informed me as he began dragging me out of the training room. As if on cue, as if his stomach had heard him it growled, long and loud.

"Thank you Vista!" I managed to call out before I was fully dragged out of the training room.

"See!" He exclaimed as if his growling stomach just proved his point. "Come one we're getting food."

I wasn't given much of a choice but once in the kitchen I began cooking food for the both of us. Unfortunately he ate everything the moment I took it off the stove and put it on a plate. He hollered and hooted about how hot things were, which was silly since he could turn into fire, but I said nothing and he continued to eat it anyway.

"Ace." I weakly managed still amazed at the way this guy could eat. Two weeks and some odd days and you'd think that I'd be used to the way he inhaled his food. But I wasn't, not really.

"Yesh?" he asked around a large mouthful of food. His cheeks looked like a chipmunks and were stuffed full with food. Briefly he paused in shoveling food into his mouth to listen to what I had to say.

"You're going to kill yourself if you keep eating like that." I knew that I was wasting my breath but still. There were so many safety hazards in the way that he ate that it wasn't funny.

Swallowing the mouthful so that his cheeks returned to normal he laughed. "It hasn't killed me yet. And besides mere food isn't going to kill me, even if it's poisoned."

"Oh. Well sorry for shooting you." He had startled me so badly that I hadn't even had time to think about my plan of attack; my finger had just tightened around the trigger and wound up shooting him.

"It's fine. I'm a logia type so it doesn't matter. And anyway you didn't hurt me so don't worry about it. Actually it would have been a great shot if I were an enemy looking to kill you."

But he wasn't an enemy and he hadn't been looking to kill me. But I didn't mention that aloud. "B-but. . ." It was still wrong to shoot people in the chest, logia type of not. I mean he was my . . . friend? And last time I checked friends don't shoot friends, at least not in reality.

"What did I tell you about apologizing Willow?" Ace asked as if he had read my mind and knew what was coming next.

"To stop." I muttered.

"Exactly. I'm unharmed so there's nothing to apologize for."

"But what if-"

"Willow, if we lived on what if's I'd never have any fun. Ever." He said before finishing off the plate of food.

"Yeah but-"

"Willow." He said in an almost warning voice.

"I should have known I'd find you in here." A voice said as a person walked in. It was Thatch, or at least that what I believe that's what he had been introduced as. I hope I wasn't mixing him up with anyone else. "You've even got the newbie cooking for you?"

"P-please call me Willow." I quietly managed to slip that between whatever he was going to say next, or before Ace could say anything.

"Alright Kiddo take a seat." As he said that he grabbed the utensils out of my hands before bumping my hip with his and efficiently bumping me away from in front of the stove, taking my place. "Ace don't eat all the newbies food. I bet she hasn't eaten all day and I heard that she's started her training already."

"Yup!" Ace said with that silly little grin of his before he elbowed me almost painfully in the ribs. "Tell 'em about it."

I wasn't going to say anything because I thought that he was playing. But when I saw their expectant looks I managed three small words.

"Fun? Did I hear you right Kiddo?" Thatch asked slapping Ace's hand away from my plate.

I nodded and they shook their heads.

"We'll see how much you like it in a few days."

After fending Ace off once more I took a bite and thanked Thatch for taking over the cooking of the food. He was able to keep up with Ace's appetite and the speed in which he ate until he was full.

"No problem Kiddo, though I wouldn't offer to cook for him again. He's got quite the appetite if you haven't noticed already."

Instead of answering back about how I hadn't offered in the first place I just stabbed Ace in the hand, surprised that the fork didn't go through him like the bullet had. I stabbed him hard enough to make him retreat for the time being.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	16. Chapter 16

The next few months went something like that second day and the first day squashed together. We didn't make many stops at islands and if we did we didn't stick around for long. The marines seemed to keep away from Pops; they seemed to leave him alone which was great.

Every morning I'd wake up, eat something light, find a commander, mainly Marco and practiced combat. Izo helped me with target training and handling guns and pistols but that wasn't too often and only if he felt like it. Vista helped me almost daily for an hour or so with my sword training. I'm proud to say that I had been upgraded from a normal sword to my mom's weapons, which I had started wearing. One on each hip. I was rather weak when it came to punching and kicking but I was fast and good at dodging.

I had also picked out an outfit that not only did Ace seem to like better, but an outfit that satisfied Cole and didn't make me look so innocent. Black cargo pants that reached my ankles with ties at the bottom and pockets in the middle of each leg paired with tank tops of different colors. I still wore sandals but those were now black as well.

The crew had taken to calling me Kiddo instead of Willow or newbie, which for the last one I was grateful for.

Ace had been sent away for a few days to a week at a time and during those times I was forced to interact with the rest of the crew and talk and stuff. There was definitely a difference between the way I interacted with Ace and the way I interacted with the rest of the crew. I was still more reserved around them, minus Cole. But around Ace, he had seen just about everything, the good the bad and I tried to keep the ugly out of sight of anyone, even Ace.

Marco was like my go to guy, like a diary that I could tell almost anything to. He was a great listener and he actually had good advice for whatever I needed advice about. He was almost like a really close uncle or some family member like that but wasn't quite a father. Even Pops wasn't quite a father though he was certainly a father figure. Maybe he was an adopted father or something.

But today I didn't feel like the talking, laughing or drinking with the rest of the crew. I planned on eating then going to train a bit by myself and try and improve my unarmed skills by myself.

I was so close to the door, so close to making it, to being in the clear when a voice shouted, "Yo girlie get your ass over here. Where do ya think you're going?"

I weighed my options before slowly turning and heading over to the table that Cole sat at. Haruta sat on her left, Teach sat a few seats down and a few other people sat with her, a contrast to the usual empty table she sat at. I put my food down and sat across from her.

She smiled at me and said, "Cheers girlie. You've survived your first few months as a Whitebeard pirate, of being a part of the family."

The people surrounding her smiled as well and lifted their glasses, empty, half empty or full and shouted, "Cheers!" Before clinking their glasses together, the contents sloshing out and onto their hands and onto the table but no one seemed to mind.

"So when are you going to get Pops mark?" Someone asked.

I wasn't too fond of getting a tattoo, even though I loved what I symbolized. It was like a brank, more than just ink in flesh. It was like Pops claim to us, that we were his sons and daughters. And it was our claim to him that our loyalty was to him and each other. It loved it but it didn't stop me from being afraid of actually getting a tattoo.

"I expect it to be soon girlie. You're a part of the family, we'd all live, sweat, bleed, fight and die for you and we know that you'd do the same for us. So what are you waiting for?" Cole said making me feel a bit guilty. I mean I wanted to but the fear was what was stopping me. And if they knew it they'd all blow off my fear as if it were nothing.

"How 'bout this Willow." The owner of the voice paused and waited until he knew that he had at least snagged a tiny bit of my curiosity, which I don't think was too hard of a thing to do.

The owner of the said voice was one of the newbies who was older than me, who had been here longer than me. I believe his name was Izanagi. He had skin that for some reason had a purplish hue to it, his jaw was hard and his eyes sharp, black and glowing.

"Why don't we have a little contest. If I win you get it here and now. And if you win then you can weasel your way out of getting Pops mark for a bit longer."

Ok. That didn't sound too bad. "What kind of contest?" I suppose the answer should have been obvious. We were a crew of pirates and we were currently gathered in the galley for dinner. But I hadn't felt like playing the guessing game and obviously wasn't thinking too hard or connecting the dots.

"A drinking contest of course." He proposed but as I was about to refuse he added, "Unless you can't do that, you being a girl and all." That jab got him a hard punch from Cole, who had crawled across the table and down closer to Teach before she could actually reach him, and an even meaner glare from her. "Perhaps you're too soft, too good for a good old fashioned drinking contest." He tried another taunt, one that wouldn't offend Cole this time.

"I am no better or worse then you." I coolly replied, still uneasy about drinking. I knew first-hand what it did to people or what people claimed it did to them. I usually sat back and sipped at the drinks I had, letting fools be fools watching as they stumble around drunk. After all I didn't want to have any of the experiences they had told me about.

-Ace-

It was a few hours past dark when the soles of my boots touched the familiar and nearly abandon deck of the Moby Dick.

I was back! I thought with a smile.

Despite the lack of light it was only about seven or so. The stars were out and twinkling merrily and the moon was out and shining with its borrowed light. The deck was deserted except for the look out and a few select few, meaning that everyone was in the galley and I was not only missing food but a good time!

But before I could take a step in the direction of the galley the door suddenly slammed open, disturbing the cool silky silence with a giggle and the word 'oopsie'. Well that right there narrowed the options of who it could possibly be to about five or six people at the most.

However when the person walked out onto t deck not only did I have to do a double take but I had to rub at my eyes to make sure that I wasn't seeing things incorrectly. And when that didn't change who was before me I pinched my arm but that didn't wake me up so I accepted that I was seeing right.

But before I could say anything her fluttering, not focusing on anything that I could tell attention landed and locked on me before she let out a squeal that my name instantly followed.

The first time I had left the ship the crew had played a prank on her, telling her that I had quit and left the Whitebeard Pirates. And since she had been gullible enough to believe a group of pirates looking for a bit of entertainment she had been absolutely ecstatic to see me when I returned from whatever had made me leave in the first place.

Every time after that, after she had learned her lesson, Willow would more or less drop whatever and run up to me with his big smile on her face then she'd stop just shot of me, blush deeply and then give me a tentative hug. Actually she did the same thing with Thatch and Marco and sometimes Izo and Cole but with them she kept her emotion more in check, she wouldn't run up to them and they had to be the ones to hug her, not the other way around.

She could hold her emotions in for them but not for me.

And that made me feel special, like I was needed and wanted just a bit more.

However, now her usual walk was not only off balance but she was just all over the place as she walked even though I'm pretty sure I was her intended destination. She swayed and tripped over absolutely nothing, only confirming my suspicions as she staggered towards me.

"Heeey Acesh." She slurred as she tripped into my chest with wildly flailing arms and a dazed and confused expression, as if she didn't understand how she had crashed into my chest.

Acesh? I couldn't help but chuckle. Since when did my name have a sh attached to the end of it? Haha well at this point she was obviously well past no return.

"Hello Willow." I greeted as though she were sober.

"Didja have a fun trip?" she asked using one hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear while the fingertips of her other hand slipped down my chest from where they had conveniently landed after tripping into me. I did what she usually did and nodded as I collected her wrists in one hand, in a loose grasp that she easily escaped from.

And this time instead of running her fingers down my chest she reached up and slipped her hands through my hair, yanking through a few knots as she did so. She began twisting strands around her fingers and lightly playing with my hair, which I suppose was ok. It certainly wasn't near as dangerous as her slipping her hands down my chest.

Willow smiled at me and just when I was about to smile back and tell her to go to bed, to sleep it off and to get me in the morning- no doubt she'd have a hangover, a bad one- when my face was firmly grabbed between two small hands and a pair of soft, strongly tasting of alcohol tasting lips crushed into mine.

Was this really happening? I wondered briefly until my lips were lightly bitten. Pulling away quickly I managed to say very little, just the words, "Willow you shouldn't-" Before her mouth found mine again. Now of course her hands had slid back into my hair and had pushed my still clinging to my head, hat off and I felt it fall to my back where the strings kept it there.

Shit! She was that type of drunk!

Shit shit shit! I mentally cursed. I mean I knew she was drunk from the moment she walked out onto the deck but I hadn't realized that she was this type of drunk.

Suddenly though she pulled away, withdrawing her clumsy, rum tasting tongue from my mouth and hooked her thumbs through the belt loops of my pants with a smile and the words, "Welcome home." At that moment her quiet voice had chosen to go rough and slightly husky, which wasn't helping me at all.

"Thank you. I want you-"

"I wantchu too." She slurred interrupting me mid-sentence. "I wantchu reeeeeeaaaaalllllyyyy badly." She whined to me.

"No." I grumbled grabbing her wrists and handing her wondering hands back to her. A frown tugged down the corners of her moth. I thought we had already been through this- different circumstances of course- but I have morals- which I remember saying aloud. If she were sober and in her right mind, I wouldn't mind this half as much. But I didn't want to take advantage of her, not like this. Plus the morning would be a nightmare with a bad hang over, probably some tears and lots of regrets. And I'd rather avoid both tears and regrets if I could.

After all I tried my best to live life without regrets. So far so good for the most part.

"No?" she questioned.

"That's right. Now go to bed."

"Come wid me." Willow pleaded in a whiney, baby sounding voice. This was soooo not willow. She was so far gone that it wasn't even funny. Maybe she saw my reluctance because she added, "We'll just lie down, alright?"

For a second I wondered if she were sobering up but before I could make up my mind, or respond to her, to tell her that no sleep would be had if she kept tempting me so, she stole another kiss. Her hands in my hair tugging on it as her fingers tightly knotted in it.

If I really wanted to get away there were numerous things I could do to do so. But deepening the kiss was not one of those things. Running my tongue across her slightly parted lips wasn't helping me get away either. It wasn't sending the right message. I wasn't telling her to go to sleep to sleep it off but instead I was encouraging her.

Pulling away Willow smiled again and said, "Cawwy mee."

Before haphazardly jumping into my arms and wrapping her legs around my bare torso. Thank god she had taken to wearing long pants that reached her ankles and tank tops over that first outfit she had tried on the second day of her being a pirate. Thankfully for her I caught her and as I started walking she reached behind my back, grabbed my hat, pulled it off and then put it on her own head before she began peppering my face and neck with a variety of kisses.

She wasn't making it any easier to say no.

When I reached the door of her room she spoke up again. "Nah-ah-ah. Let's go to yooourrr roooom Mr." So I stepped back closing her door and went to mine.

Looks like my bed wasn't waiting for me any longer. Looks like I wasn't going to get a good meal either. I thought as I tried to put Willow down. But she clung to me, pulling me down on top of her.

"Do yooouuu want mee ash bad ach I want chu?" she slurred breathlessly.

"Yeah. But not like this." I told her pinning each wrist on either side of her head to stop them from wandering.

Willow pouted for a moment before stretching up and giving me yet another kiss as her legs stayed wrapped around my waist, tightening a bit.

There was a lot of skin on skin contact and I could see the drunken lust in her eyes and I could not only feel her breath, the rise and fall of her small chest but also feel her erratic heartbeat.

This was going to be a long, oh so painfully long night.

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.


	17. Chapter 17

I woke up to my body being shaken with small whimpers reaching my ears. Small droplets of something splattered on my chest and quietly sizzled.

"A-ace?" A small voice managed. "Ace please wake up." After that my body kept being shaken and quiet sobs started up.

For a moment it was hard to arouse myself out of sleep but when I remembered who I had gone to bed with last night my eyes snapped open and I was instantaneously awake.

"A-Ace tell . . . t-tell me that I- we didn't- we did didn't we?" She whispered the last sentence.

When I looked at Willow she was hunched over my with my sheets clutched to her chest. Her green eyes were wide and watery and she looked as if she were in pain of sorts. I didn't know how to reply, how to comfort her and tell her that I had miraculously been strong enough to resist her most of the night, even when she had somehow stripped out of her clothes.

When I didn't say anything she hung her head and apologized. We had slept but that was all that we had done in the end. She was once again using her long teal hair as a shield to separate her from me.

Reaching up I tucked her hair behind her ear and said, "There's no need to apologize. You were totally trashed." That was an understatement to be honest. From the first kiss I knew exactly what she had drunk.

"But I-I should have stopped." She managed as my thumbs wiped her tears from her cheeks. She flinched when my hands touched her face.

"It's fine really. Look why don't you stay here and I'll go whip up a hangover remedy. After that you can shower if you want." Like usual she mutely nodded. I kissed her forehead before getting up. Willow let out a squeak but I only laughed.

"Hey Ace have you seen-" A voice said as my door swung open. "Holy shit man this is where you two have been!" And with that my door was quickly slammed closed.

"Ace!" Willow screeched as I ran out still not dressed. Though I don't remember having lost any articles of clothing so how had I woke up naked? Maybe I had undressed in my sleep again. I've done that a few times. But had I done that last night?

Well I was going to make sure that whoever that was didn't tell the entire crew what they had seen and make sure that they didn't have the chance to jump to conclusions either. Willow was already upset enough as it was and we hadn't done a thing . . . expect literally got naked while sleeping in the same bed. Ok that sounded really bad.

"HEY!" I shouted causing the person to turn around and slow down just enough for me to be able to tackle him. We rolled a few times before I ended up on top.

Their eyes widened as I said, "Ha! Now if you tell anyone what you saw you'll regret it."

The guy was about to answer when I noticed a pair of sandals inches from the top of their head as a voice asked, "Ace, what the hell are you doing?"

"Making sure he doesn't spill anything." I said quickly glancing up at Marco before glaring down at the guy I was pinning to the floor.

Marco let out a heavy sigh and said, "That's an order." I think he was referring to the not spilling anything but I wasn't too sure and the guy I was on top of didn't seem to be too sure either. But Marco was pointedly looking at the guy. "Now Ace get up before there are any other spectators. And while you're at it go put some pants on."

"Ok." I stood up and the guy made a hasty get away. "Can I borrow yours?" Marco gave me this what the fuck look before snapping a 'no'. "Why? I'll return them." I needed to get Willow that hangover remedy now; I could get a pair of pants later.

"Ace, return to your room and clothe yourself." Marco said with a shake of his head before he continued on his way doing whatever he had been heading to do when he had interrupted me and the guy.

Instead of listening to him I turned myself into fire and went to get that remedy that I had promised.

-Willow-

He told me that he would get something that would help me a bit before he proceeded to climb over me and get out of the bed. Instantly I covered my eyes with my hand as not to get an eyeful.

I heard someone walk in and after a few words I took a peek just in time to watch Ace rush out of the room butt naked and shouting something at whoever had carelessly walked in. I called after him; he shouldn't run around a ship naked. But when he didn't immediately come back I lay back down, trying to figure out what had led to waking up in my undergarments next to a naked Ace.

From what I managed to piece together there was a challenge that I had been stupid enough to accept because of some kind of jab about Ace and Marco. Then between that and waking up were blurs of tight grips, giggles, hot breaths and incomprehensible words. With a heavy sigh I closed my eyes and tried to get rid of the nauseous feeling.

Not a few minutes later I was shaken and as I opened my eyes once again a hand was gently slipped under my back and I was slowly eased into a sitting position and a glass as well as a few pills were pressed into my hands. "Here ya go." He said as I eyed the suspicious looking liquid in it. A smile spread across Aces face and he added, "Hold your nose and drink it as fast as you can." His tone was soft and the volume of his voice was quiet. I wondered when he had gotten dressed because the man sitting next to me was stark naked no more.

I did exactly as he suggested and after putting the pills in my mouth and drowning its contents I spoke, "W-we should n-never speak of this again . . . e-ever."

"Okie dokie. No problem. Remember where the showers are?" he asked me.

How could he be so cool and calm about this? I mean I guess freaking out wasn't in his nature unless it was his temper flaring- both literally and figuratively.

I let out a really stupid sounding, stretched out uuuh. If he'd given more time to answer I would have eventually figured it out it was just really hard to think around the pounding headache and crappy feeling I had.

He reached up and ruffled my hair saying, "Grab your things and I'll remind you."

"C-can you not look?" I asked feeling my face heat up. I suppose the request was silly considering I wasn't even completely naked and he had probably seen me last night.

But Ace just let out a laugh and said, "I've got a towel in here from last time. Hope you don't mind a dirty towel."

"I-I . . . it's fine really." And with those words he began tearing apart his room looking for it and keeping his tattooed back to me.

I dressed and asked, "Say I decided to finally get Pops mark, where do you think I should get it?" It felt weird calling him whitebeard or anything other than Pops.

"Where do you want to get it? Surely you have a slight idea where you want it to be. I mean I'd say your back but then you'd have to go around shirtless-"

"No." I was not going around topless, unlike certain people on the crew.

He laughed. "Well what about your arm or your ankle? Cole might be able to fit something on the inside of your wrist. So-ah ha! Here ya go Willow." He exclaimed interrupting himself and grabbing my wrist. He dragged me out of his room, which now looked like a disaster zone, and into mine. "Get your soap and stuff."

I obeyed and he dragged me to the showers.

"Th-thanks." I felt stupid needing to be shown where the showers were after being here for so long. I could have eventually found it myself but I was glad that someone had offered to help me.

Before I pulled the curtain closed between us he flashed a goofy grin and said, "No problem. So how'd you get so wasted in the first place?"

"A challenge." I muttered none too proud of the fact that I had been goaded into a drinking contest. Slowly I stripped watching Ace's boots not move an inch.

"A drinking challenge? Who challenged you?"

"Izanagi." I muttered surprising myself by remembering the answer as I turned on the shower. After that there was no answer, no response, no laugh, no 'oh', no nothing. "Ace?" I asked feeling silly that I had expected him to still be there. But I hadn't heard him take off and I had only looked away from him long enough to face the wall and turn on the water.

After my refreshing shower I decided that I was actually quite hungry and after a bid managed to find my way to the kitchen.

I thought I'd be alone, since it was- well I didn't even know the time, but I did know that it was between when we congregated for breakfast and when the dinner bell rang. I thought that I'd walk into a large, eerily silent room filled with empty tables and bodiless chairs but that was not the case.

When I saw the bare tattooed back I let out a chuckle that usually wouldn't be too loud but now sounded a bit too noisy. Oh I should have known he'd be here of all places. When I sat in front of him with a simple bowl of cereal he instantly asked,

"Better?"

I nodded. "Very much so. Thank you so much for everything." There was a pause of near silence where we ate in peace. Ace isn't exactly the quietest, neatest eater around. "So how was your trip?" That was almost code for what kind of trouble did you weasel your way into and narrowly escape form this time? And for what kind of mischievous fun did you have on your mission thingy.

"Boooring." He yawned before launching into a very long, elaborate and detailed story told with wild hand gestures and plenty of face palm worthy things that I could almost perfectly envision Ace saying and doing. When he finally finished his story we were long dong with our food, we got up and left the galley leaving our things on the otherwise empty table. He said that someone else would come and pick up our mess when I tried to take care of it.

"So are you up for training today?" He asked as we more or less started in the direction of the training room.

I nodded but before I could answer someone called out our names, Fire Fist and girlie. We both turned around at the same time to see Cole walking up to us.

"So did you two have a good night last night? You were quite loud. I didn't realize you guys were such freaks." She winked at me with a sly smile.

Instantly I felt my face start to burn before I turned towards Ace and rested my forehead against his shoulder. While I was mute with shock that she had said that, Ace was trying to stammer out some kind of denial.

Coles Laughter however cut off his denial attempt. "You ready to get your tattoo girlie? Ready to take up Pops mark and officially join the family?"

"Whoa! Hey, why didn't you tell me about this?!" Ace exclaimed grabbing me by my shoulders and holding me at arms distance, looking really excited.

"Huh?"

Ace looked so excited about the decision I had supposedly made.

"Izanagi made a bet- by the way Fire Fist was," Cole turned on Ace, "Was giving him a black eye really necessary?"

"Of course! I could have done way worse."

"True." His answer seemed to satisfy her because the conversation went back to the tattoo that I was supposed to be getting. "So where do you want it?"

There was a long pause where I'm assuming I was expected to insert my answer, but I didn't.

Cole let out a sigh and said, "If you're worried about pain it won't hurt much. If you're worried about permanence then don't because I can move and remove it until we get it right."

"Come oooooon Willlooooow." Ace whined before putting on a huge grin and saying, "It's about time you know. Plus Cole's the best. She ate this devil fruit that lets her do some wicked things with ink, needles and flesh- OW!" He grumbled mid-sentence letting go of one of my shoulders and rubbing at the back of his head as Cole glared at him.

"Shut up Fire Fist. You're not helping." She then turned towards me. "Listen Willow you have two options. One get the tattoo, or two suffer the consequence of losing a bet and refusing to do whatever the deal was."

"Which is?" I asked. Well maybe if it wasn't too bad I'd do it.

"Don't do it Willow!" Ace shouted loudly even though I was still only arms distance from him. "It's not worth it, trust me!" His volume didn't lower and he kept yelling.

"I thought I told you to shut up Fire Fist." She sent another glare his way and said, "You'd have to be Izanagi's slave for a week."

"A week?"

"Yeah. Someone decided that twenty four hours wasn't near long enough to make them suffer and regret not doing whatever." Cole explained in quieter tones then Ace.

"Well I've been thinking about my hand . . ." I wasn't being anybody's slave for a week. I didn't even want to know what exactly being a slave meant that I'd have to do.

Both of them smiled at me and Ace let out a whoop and began rambling on about showing it off the moment Cole was done and something about a celebration. But Cole easily silenced him and said, "Alright come with me to my room." And with that she turned around and began walking away from us.

I quickly followed but when no one fell in line next to or slightly behind me I stopped and twisted around asking, "Aren't you coming?"

He shook his head. "Nah. I want you to surprise me."

"Ace." Cole grumbled in an exasperated voice. "Kiddo here isn't going to want to party, especially not after last night."

"She doesn't have to drink. It's tradition anyways. We could always have non spiked punch or juice or something else to drink." He argued.

"You just want another reason to party."

"Yup!" And with that he turned and ran off.

"And you're head over heels for him why?" Cole's voice reached my ears as I watched his retreating back.

"W-what?" I asked my heart stopping as I whipped around to face Cole, unable to believe that she had said that.

She smiled coyly before saying, "Come on girlie it's about time you bore the great and wonderful Pops." But she didn't say a single word about her previous comment, she didn't validate that I had heard correctly or that she had even said anything out of the realm of our current conversation.

"Y-yeah." I weakly agreed. I was so nervous now. I had been hoping that Ace might come with me so that I'd have a bit of comfort, or someone to distract me a bit from the pain that was sure to come.

"Scared?" Her voice asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Sort of." Yes I was scared. But I didn't have many other options, be a slave for a week or get a tattoo? The tattoo was certainly the lesser of the two evils.

She was quiet as we reached a door and walked into a room that had to be hers. Because it honest to god looked as though Coles personality had manifested just long enough to throw up everywhere. All four walls had been painted black and her room didn't have a porthole. Just about every surface, except for the floor beneath our feet, had graffiti and original works of art and posters of sorts everywhere and most of those artistic works were cockeyed, at odd angles or even upside-down.

She forcefully sat me in a chair that resembled that in which a dentist might have. And then proceeded to start unpacking a black case with silver trim. It looked like an instrument case with two silver latches to keep it closed. As she began hooking things up and stuff she began verbally walking me thought the process of what was going to happen and how it was going to happen.

First was the design phase where she'd sketch Pops Jolly Roger and possibly add things, patterns or a background around it if I wanted. After that we'd pick a place on my body to place the outline and then after that she'd start actually inking the tattoo.

"Don't worry Willow." She said as she dipped the needle into the purple dye that she seemed to have the most of.

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A/N: I just want to thank everyone for their support so far. It makes me really happy and warm and fuzzy and stuff. And as always feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	18. Chapter 18

-Ace-

"Why do you look so happy?" Marco warily asked me. "Whatever you did to whoevers room you had better go undo it."

"Do I have to play pranks to be happy?" I asked him.

The correct answer to that question was no. I was happy when I ate- most of the time, because eating when you're sad or mad just ruins the taste of the food. And I was happy when I explored islands or when I talked about and/or saw Luffy. And Willow made me happy most of the time too. And being a part of Pops family made me happy.

See? I wasn't just happy when I played pranks on people. But it certainly helped.

"Generally, yes. You have an hour." He said crossing his arms.

"I haven't done anything." Though it wasn't too bad of an idea for me to go do a quickie while I had the chance.

"Pops wanted me to inform all division commanders that we're nearing an island and he will set off towards the island . . . alone. When he goes I'll be in charge. And a direct order, "He gave me this look as if this pertained to me and mostly me. "No one leaves the ship."

"Why are you looking at me like that? Jeez I've got a party to plan."

"Because you are one of the worst order followers on the crew. Sometimes you're worse than the newbies. So what is this I'm hearing about a party?"

"I'm going to throw Willow a surprise party." Though it might not be too much of a surprise with me having said something about it in the hall with her. Well crap. I was still throwing that party, surprise or not.

"What for Ace?"

"She's getting Pops mark, taking the final step of officially being a part of the family."

I couldn't help but smile. I was so glad. Granted that a tattoo doesn't make you a family member but it marks you as Pops and it shows your loyalty to him, which Willow had been after the first week, after she had adjusted to her new life. So this was really a long time coming for her even though she had only been here for several months.

"But wait Marco I've got a hypothetical type of question." I said stopping him as he began walking off. When he stopped I began looking around, damn the floor and my boots and that knot in the wall were suddenly so interesting. I wondered if that was even the correct word for what I was about to ask. I was only going to ask it once and I was going to ask only Marco. I mean I think that the word was the right word. I felt myself frowning, knowing that Willow would know for sure, she had a thing with words and knowing them and their meanings. She was like a dictionary without all of the hard work. But thank god she didn't use her broad and very extensive vocabulary often.

"You do?" He raised an eyebrow not masking the shock in his voice.

I nodded waiting for his consent to continue asking, to make sure that he was listening and that it was ok to even ask away like I was planning on doing. But his silence annoyed me and I just started asking my question wondering why I was even worried about Marco listening, he'd listen to me like it or not, or if I had anything I wanted to talk about. . .not that I had to talk to him about things much. . . that was more of a girl thing. But I admit if I needed something he was usually the first one I went to, one of the first people that I sought out.

"Um . . . well would it be weird if I had . . . um let's say this person liked someone more then . . . I-they like-" I shook my head. Ok this was stupid, not very productive and too obvious. "Never mind man. Come on and help me get everyone on the deck. Cole won't take too long with Willow's tat."

Marco let out a chuckle with a shake of his head. "And here I thought something serious and sensible was about to come from your mouth."

"Sorry to disappoint." I grinned and clapped, "Come on, get to it."

With a roll of his eyes he said 'ok' and continued on his way. I gathered up my division and most of the crew for 'some big surprise' but none of them knew what that big surprise was yet. The crew wasn't the only thing that I brought up to the deck. Barrels of rum and most of the glasses we had were brought up to the deck as well.

"Ace." Pops said stopping me, a large sake cup was half way lifted up to his mouth and though his voice had been slightly stern there was a small smile on his face. "What's the occasion son?" He asked.

I looked up at him with a huge smile, something that I could hardly stop doing. Really I couldn't help it. "You'll see."

He gave me a look and sat back with the words, "This had better be good boy."

"Oh it will be."

Now all I-we- had to do was wait. That was going to be soooooooo hard. We occupied ourselves with mindless chatter and people almost nonstop asking me what was with the big grin on my face or what I had done to make me so happy. I'd just smile even wider and told them they'd have to wait and see.

And finally the door leading below the deck slammed open and a voice- Cole's voice- shouted, "And now the new and improved guess of honor. . . Willow!"

We all stood there watching the doorway, waiting in suspense that was building to a point that it was almost painful. We all waited to see how Willow was new and improved- though I already knew how, or had more of an idea then the rest of the crew. But she didn't emerge, nothing happened, no one stirred, and not a sound was uttered.

Cole let out an annoyed growl that was audible to us all. She held up her index finger and reached into the darkness saying, "This isn't a fairytale ball girlie. No one really cares if you're made up or not." No one could hear what Willow said in response but we could all hear Coles answer to whatever she had said, "You're the one who chose your hand, with less flesh and more bone. The bonier the place the more painful it's going to be, that's just how tattoos work. No one's going to notice that you cried because they'll be too happy celebrating with drinks and stuff. Besides Fire Fist will give anyone a black eye if they make you cry anymore."

Everyone's attention went from the doorway to me. Some had arched eyebrows, looks of surprise or heads cocked like curious puppies or Luffy when he didn't understand something. But all of their expressions were the same, asking the same few questions, all except Izanagi, who was pouting, with a very swollen black eye.

"B-but now everybody knows." A voice grumbled, turning our attention back to the black doorway and the now slowly emerging girl.

"My bad. Now show them the tat. Act like you love it at least."

When the door leading below deck slammed closed, blocking Willows escape, everybody swarmed one of two things. A) They went straight to Willow or B) they got themselves a glass first and then went to see Willow and her tattoo.

I grabbed two glasses, filled them to the brim and pushed my way through the thick crowd that surrounded her. Once I reached Willow I pushed the glass into her hands before slapping her on the back and congratulating her. But instead of drinking the rum, instead of merrily gulping it down she stared at it.

"One won't kill ya." I told her.

She looked up at me with a startled expression, as if she had been deep in thought or something like that. "Y-you sure?"

I flashed Willow a smile, which was enough to convince her that occasionally sipping it when I looked at her wouldn't be too bad.

After a few hours of celebration Pops silenced the crew by simply clearing his throat. He made an announcement about how we wouldn't dock at the next island that we'd reach in like a weeks' time, that he would go alone and he'd take only one day to take care of business. No one was to leave the ship, let alone actually step foot on the island. And when he said all of that, I swear that he was talking to me.

But then he lifted his sake cup and with a nod smiled at Willow, who stood slightly behind me said, "To my daughter Willow." Before he took a long swig from the glass.

Almost instantly the celebration picked up exactly where it had been stopped.

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A/N:

Ok so this chapter is out sooner than it should be but it's a lot shorter than usual and for that I apologize. However the next few chapters are going to be really long so they sort of make up for this really chapter.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	19. Chapter 19

I'm booored." I whined. I was half hanging off of Willows bed, watching her draw from a strange angle. She had her back to the side of her bed with her legs drawn up and her sketchpad propped against her knees. The furious scratching of her pencil against the paper was the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

"Well I'm not." She said pausing and looking over at me with a small smile before her green eyes and her attention went back to her drawing.

I frowned. The only reason she wasn't bored was because she was having her fun sketching. So before she could fight back or even know what had hit her I reached over and snatched both the pencil and the sketchpad out of her hands. When she looked up I flashed her a playful grin and said, "Ha! Now you've got nothing to do either."

"Ace drop it before you burn it!" she demanded pushing herself to her feet and reaching to get it away from me and my famous fire fists. She looked scared not for herself but for her sketchpad, as if I'd destroy something that meant so much to her.

I just continued smiling as I got comfortable, crossing my legs and began flipping through her remarkable drawings. With a huff of defeat she stopped struggling against the hand that held her at bay and sat on the edge of her bed and watched me look through her art, watching my face instead of the pages.

When I was done I glanced up at Willow and then tossed it over my shoulder in a flutter of noise and pages. Now I was bored again. "Occupy me." I grumbled at her flopping across her bed once again. I had taken away her only form of entertainment so now she had to occupy herself too.

"Ok. But I'm so not helping you with any of those bird themed pranks you play on Marco."

"What bird pranks?" I asked trying to pull off innocent as well as Willow could. Even after all this time she could still play innocent with the best of them.

"Like crafting eggs with birds in them and swapping Marco's bed with a bird nest or trying to feed him birdseed Ace." She reminded me of the pranks that she was talking. "I'm not helping you with any of that stuff." Willow firmly told me what she wasn't going to do.

I laughed. "That's all old stuff. But if you don't want to do that why don't we go check out that island?"

"No."

"Why not?" We could take care of ourselves. Well me more than Willow but that training was certainly helping her. Not only that but I could protect her if I had to, no problem.

"Pops' orders." Was all she said as if she thought that was all she needed to say, as if that was a good enough reason to not go, to not explore that island.

"You're a bad entertainer you know that?" I asked Willow unsure if she was aware of the fact.

"My deepest apologies. Why don't we waste time in the training room?" she suggested.

"Oooooor why don't we take a peek at that island Pops told us not to go on?" I was absolutely dying to do so.

"No."

"But I don't wanna kill time i the training room. I don't need any training." I told her knowing full well that it was her who needed it, who it might be beneficial for. But we could train any time we wanted, in fact I'd be more than happy to train her later, after we go explore that island, the one that we didn't have permission to step foot on. In fact someone had told me not to even look or think about it. But I couldn't help but think about it, not when my body ached to get off this ship and to the shores of that shiny island.

I could just hear it calling out to me, begging me to step foot on it and explore it, if only a little bit. Not only that but it was all shiny and reflective, just like Jozu's diamonds in the sun.

"Come oooon. We'll be back before Pops can get back." We didn't exactly have an option if we didn't want to get in trouble.

"Ace." Willow sternly said my name. "We both know that the only reason you want to go is because Pops orders are denying you access, denying you the permission to go."

"Exactly. Let's go."

"But I'm sure he had his reasons. We really shouldn't go." She tried again.

Just like she could act innocent, she was still more or less of a good girl. I was no longer the odd man out, using manners and stuff. Really she hadn't changed at all even though she had changed so much since having joined the crew. She had warmed up to the crew and had opened up a bit but that was about it.

"Trust me, it'll be fun. And besides there's nothing to do here."

"I'm sure there is if we look."

"But I don't wanna look." Willow opened her mouth and began saying something but I cut her off saying, "Come one, you should just stop trying. You're not going to change my mind." Everyone knew how hard it was to change my mind once it was made up. And right now it was made up, I was just trying to convince her to come with me before I threw her over my shoulder and she no longer had a choice.

"You're so stubborn." She muttered with a shake of her head.

"Does that mean I don't have to drag you along with me and that you're coming with me willingly?" I couldn't help that my tone sounded as hopeful as I knew that I was.

"What if we get in trouble?"

"We'll worry about that later." I told her reaching for her hand. But she moved it just out of my reach. So I tried again, but again she moved out of my reach, preventing me from grabbing her and dragging her along. Finally after a few minutes of this little game of hers I succeeded in grabbing ahold of her hand. Once I managed that I began pulling her towards the door of her room.

"Whydon'twerearrangethecommandersclosets?" She rushed out in a single breath as I began pulling her through the threshold of her bedroom doorway.

I stopped and looked back at her trying to figure out if I had heard her correctly. But after replaying the words that were still ringing in the air around us a few times in my head I felt a grin break out across my face. "Now that's a good idea my friend." I clapped her on her back. The look of surprise on her face was priceless.

"I-I wasn't being-"

"Serious? Yes you were. And besides we're just going to swap their clothing and blame it on the clothing fairy. Nothing harmful to anyone. And if that clothing fairy doesn't work then we can blame it on the clear-clear fruit user. . ." I racked my brain for a name and the first one that came to mind was the first name that flew out of my mouth. ", Bob!"

"Bob?" Willow dubiously asked in a tone that asked me if I could have chosen a better name. Then she added, "The clothing fairy? Ace, no one's going to believe that."

"Luffy did." He believed all of the stories I told him. Some of course took more convincing on my part. But he believed that it was the fairies, the elves, woodland creatures and other things that did things or took his stuff when Sabo, Dadan and I all knew it was me. But Dadan never did anything about it.

When I said that Willow hung her head. "Ace, we're not dealing with Luffy."

"Weeellll that's true I suppose. But if we swap out closets they won't suspect a thing!" I exclaimed dropping her hand. "Now act unsuspicious!" I hissed at her grabbing ahold of her hand again and pulling her to my room.

Before we could enter a voice from behind us asked, "What the hell are you up to Ace?"

"What? Why do you think I'm guilty of anything?" That was hardly fair. Willow was out there in the hallway with me, she was holding my hand and it had been her idea to swap t clothing in the commander's closets in the first place.

"Because it's written all over your face Ace." Marco said looking the two of us over. "Not Willow's. You know it's probably about time you stopped dragging her around everywhere you want her to go. You know she's a big girl and is hardly a newbie anymore. She's perfectly capable of being independent."

I held up our hands and said, "I'm not dragging her anywhere. If I were-"

"What Ace is trying to say is that we were just heading to his room. I'm going willingly." Willow twisted out hands to show that I was in fact not forcing her to do anything against her will, that she wanted to accompany me wherever.

Marco eyes Willow suspiciously and then said, "Keep Fire Fist in line for me would you?"

I looked at Willow, watching to see how well she'd pull this off. She forced a smile and a nervous sounding, "Y-yeah. I-I'll try my best. He's quite the stubborn one though you know."

"I'm well aware. Just don't encourage him too much. I'd rather not have to clean up any of his messes." Marco spoke as though I wasn't standing right here, attached to Willow.

"Hey!" I protested. "I haven't left the ship now have I?" I really wanted to though. There was no way I couldn't handle whatever that island held. Though from all of the noise that Pops was making over there maybe it was smarter to just stay on the ship . . . But I was still so curious, smart or not. Every bone in my body itched to go do a little exploring, to see it up close and personal.

Marco's snorting brought my attention out of my head and back to the situation at hand. "That wouldn't be because of Willow now would it?"

"Of course it-" I began to loudly protest only to realize that his words were indeed true. So I lifted my free hand and scratched the back of my head. "-is." I admitted though from the look on Marco's face I was only admitting this to myself.

"Well have a good rest of the day or something." Willow said with a nod to Marco. "We'll just be on our way, into Ace's room to plan no-"

I clamped my hand over her mouth and said a quick 'bye' before pulling her into my room and closing the door behind me with a little too much force, a little too roughly with my foot.

Somehow Willow wasn't a good liar, which was kind of cute, because usually her face would turn red and she'd stutter worse than usual. But you'd think she'd be better at it by now.

"How is it that you can play a mean game of poker but you still can't lie worth shit?" I asked her removing my hand from her mouth.

She shrugged and said, "So are we really going to do this?"

"Of course. I can't wait to see everyone's reactions." Really I couldn't wait. This was going to be tame compared to the things we've done before but it was still going to be fun and get a rise out of the crew, which was always quite fun.

"I think we should plan whose things we're going to swap with whose. And that includes ours as not to look suspicious as you said. More so then you already are." She fixed a pointed look at me but its effects were canceled with the smile on her lips.

"Hey wait why am I the only suspicious one here?" I asked.

"Because Ace, everyone knows that I'm your get out of trouble free card. Plus I don't do things like this." Willow said as though she thought she had a good argument going for her.

"You help me with my pranks all the time." I argued with her before I began verbally listing the things we had done, what we had done to them and who we had done them to.

We had replaced Pops oxygen with helium- his voice had been so funny that neither of us had heard our punishment over our laughter. I reminded her of the times we told Thatch that he had a spider on his head just to watch him flail around and when he stopped believing us how we put a real one on him. I told her about all of the bird and or pineapple themed things we had done to Marco. I reminded her of the time we had spent all night doodling on the crew's faces.

And the time where we had prank called the other pirate ships- Willow was a surprisingly good voice actress though she was bright red in the face from the things I had her say to them. I wasn't about to let her forget about when we hid in the crow's nest and jumped down screaming 'death from above!' on everyone who passed, or when we started a crew wide pillow fight after spiking the crews coffee.

And I finished off the list of only a small fraction of the things we had done with the words, "See? You're like my partner in crime. It's about time you had an idea of your own." Then with a smile I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, grabbing my wrist in the middle of her chest, initiating the physical contact that she still wasn't too fond of. Like the first time I had put my arm around her, her body went rigid, as stiff as a board. But I ignored the reaction and turned and put my lips against the shell of her ear, just to bother her ever more and then said, "I think I've rubbed off on you." I also ignored how those words could be taken in a way different then what I meant them to be taken as.

"Ace." Willow said grabbing my hand and unlatching my arms from around her. "Stop being pervy."

"But." I began whining. Sometimes it was fun. Cole always played along with the crew's perverted ness until she found the perfect time to strike, laugh and leave you stunned even though you had been expecting that for the last thirty minutes. The nurses were usually no fun and I enjoyed playing- no messing- with Willow the most. I didn't have many other options.

"Ace, are we going to do this or not? The more time we waste the less we'll get done and the less entertaining it will be."

Oh right! "Then let's get going!" I could bother Willow with purvy-ness later.

"No. I want a plan as not to waste even more time."

"But." I began to complain. Planning almost ruined pranks since most of them were on impulses and whims and therefore were not very well thought out, or the consequences considered.

"It's nothing too difficult or complicated. We move the clothes down every other door. So yours goes to Marco's, Thatch's goes to yours, Jozu's goes to mine and so one and so forth. Got it?"

I nodded and couldn't help but ruffle her hair, feeling proud that not only had her plan been simple with no elaborate tables charts or drawings, but also that she was going this herself, without me forcing-well she have never really fought- her to do all of those pranks. "Then let's get swapping partner." She said with a smile.

I really wanted to make a perverted joke simply because I refrained most of the time but she must have read my mind because she rolled her green eyes hard and grumbled, "God Ace get that head of your out of the gutter."

"What?" I tried to pull off that innocent look with the puppy eyes that seemed to work so well.

Instead of giving me the look I had been expecting her to give me she smiled softly and had to use both hands to playfully push me, to get me to stumble back a few steps, saying, "You know what."

I realized that it wasn't working on her at all.

Almost instantly I dropped the innocent act. "So closets and drawers or just closets?" I questioned.

"Which one do you want to do?"

"Both!" I answered. Hands down. It would be so much more fun (and work) if we did both.

Again she smiled and we started at Haruta's room.

The chaos that was created that night was hilarious, though Willow and I had to hide in the crow's nest, careful to keep out of sight and therefore mind.

"High-five." I hissed at her holding out my open and waiting palm. She wordlessly obeyed the command and when the slightly too loud sound of our hands slapping together rang out I added, "Good job."

-Willow-

Ace was smiling broadly, occasionally mocking someone from the deck below wordlessly using only facial expressions and hand gestures. Occasionally he'd peek over the edge of the crow's-nest then duck down looking really worried- scaring me that someone had seen him, that we were about to get in trouble. But then he's smile and that in itself would assure me that we were fine, safe for another few minutes.

After congratulating me on a job well done he looked like he was about to say something rather serious but before he could utter a sound his head hung suddenly and he fell face first into my lap. I let out a chuckle and softly pat his wavy black hair like my mom used to do when I fell asleep with my head in her lap. Of course he would have a sleep attack now, of all the times today. Those things had such great timing. But at least he got to enjoy the aftermath of our prank; at least he got to see their reactions and had time to hide before it struck.

It was well into the morning before all the commotion died down. Closets and drawers had been semi fixed according to what I could make out from up here. The man hunt for Ace and I- mostly Ace- had been put on pause and people had been going to the barracks and probably sleep for a while now.

Unfortunately I was stuck up here, in a rather uncomfortably slouched position with Ace now clinging to me muttering incoherent things, having gone from sleeping attack to actually sleeping.

Lucky him.

I could make a few broken sentences and words out of the mess, Luffy's name was uttered quite a few times and there were even traces of a smile on his face as he dreamt.

At one point- I couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep but Ace reached up and tried closing my heavy with sleep, but open with reluctance eyelids, muttering that I should get some sleep, that I'm not fun without my sleep. After muttering the last word his arm fell limp and thumped heavily to the floor of the crow's-nest. Eventually I obeyed his command, lulled to sleep by the ever-present sound of the ocean and the sway of the ship as well as the warm body clinging to mine, snoring slightly but keeping me warmer than if I had been up here alone.

-Ace-

I woke up with something pressing down on my chest and when I opened my eyes to figure out how I should react, if I should freak out or not, whether or not I needed to torch anything. But it turns out that something was a peacefully sleeping Willow.

Unfortunately that wasn't what had woken me up. I looked up to see Marco's face looking at me, his arms crossed on the edge of the crow's-nest with a smirking half lidded, sleepy looking but expectant expression on his face.

"What?" I shortly asked, wanting to know why he was disturbing my sleep.

"Everyone knows you're hiding up here." He said.

"We're not hiding." I instantly denied. Then asked, "Why would we be hiding?" Seriously, what we did yesterday wasn't that bad.

Marco just let out a chuckle. "No one is too horrible upset and or harmed. Honestly we all expected you to decide to make a fort in the galley using all of our bedding, or make a bonfire in the middle of the deck or switching the shampoo or soaps with dye or something. Anything a bit more . . . not so tame."

"It was Willows idea." I informed him. Though those were some good ideas of things to do later. Oh how Marco was going to regret having given me ideas.

"We could tell. Now get down from here."

In case he couldn't see what was right below his nose I said, "She's sleeping."

"Pick her up and come down." He tried again.

"But you know I'm pretty comfortable right where I am."

"Just wake sleeping beauty up already if that's what you're so concerned about."

"Nah. I'm good." I smiled snaking one arm around her and stretching with the other one. One of her arms was wrapped around my waist; with a thumb hooked through a belt loop and her other hand was tucked under her cheek, which was on my chest.

"Well I bothered coming up here to inform you that we're approaching a ship and are preparing for a raid because we are all bored and I thought you'd like to join us."

"You thought wrong." I lied through the skin of my teeth. A raid sounded so good right about now. Especially after yesterday's torment of not being allowed to explore that shiny island that Pops had sortta ended up destroying by the sounds of it.

Marco snorted at my answer, obviously not believing me. "I doubt that. But if you want to stay up here with sleeping beauty more then you want to go on a raid then by all means do so. Have fun with your girlfriend."

And with that he disappeared, starting the climb down from the crow's-nest.

"Hey!" I hissed at him, moving the most that I could without disturbing Willow's sleep. "Come back here Marco!"

For a second I thought that he hadn't heard me, or was ignoring me when he reappeared and asked, "Yes?" in a tone that said 'I knew it.' But he was wrong. I wasn't moving till Willow woke up. But I did want to set something straight.

"She's not my girlfriend." I hissed at him. Not in a romantic kind of way. She was certainly a girl and she was more than my friend but she was not the compounded word, girlfriend. Girlfriends lead to a lot of things like regrets and that went against my live and die without regrets motto thing.

"Keep deluding yourself Ace." He said sounding like Cole who would push us into each other, trip each other into the other, move us closer, push us- mostly me- overboard so that the other over would have to save the person who had been pushed overboard, she locked us in nearly every room- though the galley had been an epic fail on her part. Cole wasn't subtle about her opinions about what Willow and I should be and now Marco was thinking just like her.

"I'm not deluding myself." I grumbled.

"You keep believing that Fire Fist." Now he sounded even more like Cole who enjoyed nicknames and mine just happened to be my epithet.

"I will." I huffed and with a muttered 'whatever' Marco disappeared and this time for good.

I mean I didn't have feelings for Willow and she didn't have them for me either. At least that what we kept telling people when they decided to make fun us and stuff. Plus I was only in love with adventure, meet, Luffy- in a brotherly way- and adventuring . . . though I suppose I could add Willow to the mix, I mean if she wanted to be added and if we actually have 'feelings' for each other, which I don't . . . I don't think. I'm pretty sure I don't.

But it was kind of nice laying here like this. And I could just imagine Willows reaction to waking up like this. Her face would be the color of Shanks hair and she'd be stuttering so much, trying to stammer out some kind of apology. And ever after I told her that it was fine and that I might have actually enjoyed it she'd calm down a bit but not meet my eyes. So then I'd make a joke and that would be that. Then we'd get breakfast.

At the mere thought of food my stomach growled. "Not until Willow wakes up." I whispered to my stomach, patting it lightly. It let out another growl, as if talking back at me about my decision.

So I slouched in the crow's-nest, listening to the sounds of the raid and the cheering after it, wishing that food would just float from the fridge and up here then into my mouth. Life would be so much easier if I could do that, if food could do that. I wouldn't even have to get up to get food, which would be awesome!

When the raid ended I went to watching the thin wispy clouds overhead and wondering about Luffy. I wondered how he was doing and how much of a crew he had managed to scrounged up and what he was doing on such a fine day.

Finally though Willow stirred and sat up. She looked around with s confused expression as she murmured, "Morning Ace."

"Mornin' sleeping beauty." I replied with a grin.

Her face flushed a light pink color and she asked, "Wh-what are we doing up here?"

Up here meant that she at least realized that we were in the crow's-nest. "Hiding remember?" Who cares what I told Marco, I had been lying, obviously.

"Are we still hiding?" She risked a peek over the side of the crow's-nest and down at the deck.

I shook my head. "Nope, they found us out a while ago."

"They why didn't you wake me?" I just shrugged, keeping my reasons to myself. "Well thanks for not. I suppose though you're hungry."

"Starving!" I exclaimed jumping to my feet glad that she seemed to have heard my stomachs cry for food. Either that or she just knew me that well.

"I'm sortta hungry myself." Willow quietly said to herself.

"TO THE KITCHEN!" I shouted reaching out and grabbing Willow around the waist before throwing her over my shoulder and jumping down from the crow's-nest. When I landed I paused just long enough to adjust Willow and my hat before racing off to the galley.

/

/

/

A/N: The fic Second Division Prohibitions inspired a few of the things that Willow and Ace have done on the crew. (I just don't want people to yell at me cuz they notice a resemblance or something) (Ps. If you haven't checked out the fic, it's hilarious. An absolute riot.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	20. Chapter 20

Yes! I cheered into the clear starry night before racing below deck. It was probably about three am but not only was I wide awake but I just couldn't wait. I had been stuck on the ship for the past few weeks and though pranks were still quite fun I was dying to get off the ship. And with that island being so close I was going to die before morning, before the sun rose.

The New Year's party had died just a few hours ago but Willow had turned in earlier than the rest of the crew, who were passed out drunk or something like that. The party had been great as most of the Whitebeard Pirates parties tend to be.

I stopped in front of a door, grasped the doorknob and turned it all the way before slowly pushing it open. Usually I'd bound in, noisily and probably flipping on the lights as I did so. But not only did I want to make a quiet escape I also didn't want to get mauled by all of the passed out drunk, or hoping to sleep off a hangover, people I woke up at this hour, logia type or not I'd be in deep shit.

Under the blanket of night I slowly and quietly crept into the room, over to the bed that was bolted to the floor. I slipped my hand under the pillow until my fingers brushed against warm metal. I pulled the crescent blade out from under the pillow and once I was safe I hissed, "Hey, we've reached the island." That was a bit of a lie because we hadn't docked and we'd have to use my boat to finish the trip. Unfortunately she didn't budge. "Psssst. Hey." I tried again gently shaking her.

Again nothing. So I tried again.

And again.

Until she stirred and rolled over. Slowly she cracked open her eyes and in a raspy, sleep filled voice asked, Luffy what do you want?"

"To explore." I told her wondering if she were conscious enough to make sense of what I was saying, or if she were awake enough that she could tell that I wasn't Luffy.

"What time is it?" Willow asked sitting up and rubbing at her eyes, looking much like a child. Oh so out of place on this ship.

"Three or something." I answered honestly then nearly face palmed. No one was going to explore with me at five a.m. let alone three or so in the morning.

She let out a groan and lightly pushed against the middle of my chest and she flopped back, lying back down. "Go to bed."

"Nooo. How 'bout you get out of bed." I suggested grabbing her wrist and lightly pulling on it. "Come oon or I'll leave you." After I said that I realized that it wasn't much of a threat.

"Nooooo Luffy, you'll destroy something." She groaned rolling over so that she could grab the wrist of my free hand, as if she thought that would keep me- or Luffy- still.

"But it's my birthday." I told her hoping that would get her up and going. It's been my birthday for a total of three hours, meaning that I only had twenty-one hours left of my day and had wasted one hundred and eighty minutes it. I had to make up for lost time!

"Your birthday isn't until June." Willow muttered.

"May 5th." I instantly corrected. Luffy's birthday was May 5th, not June whatever she thought it might be. "Come on, you can sleep when my day is over."

"Fine fine I'm up." With those tired words she sat up again, swinging her legs around to the side of her bed this time. When Willow tried to take a step forwards she ended up stumbling. Fortunately for her she didn't have a long fall because both of her small and now slightly calloused hands landed on my chest, halting her descent to the floor.

She looked up at me with wide eyes. "Y-you're not Luffy."

Now she could tell? I wondered how the difference between laying down and standing and then tripping made her able to distinguish the difference between Luffy. But I only smiled widely and said, "Nope, I'm Ace."

Instead of getting all flustered and stammering like I expected her to do, a lazy smile spread across her still sleepy face and she quietly half whispered the words, "Hello Ace."

"Hello." I pulled her towards the door of her room. My birthday was wasting away! I couldn't afford to waste even another second.

"Where are we going?" She asked not resisting me even a bit.

"The island." We hadn't docked yet but that was ok. I had my own boat for a reason. I couldn't wait until we docked, after the sun rose and the crew felt like raising the anchor and getting to work and docking.

"Oh. Why so early?"

"I just couldn't wait." It was true enough.

-Marco-

I expected to be woken up bright and early by either an excited Ace or some trouble he had gotten into.

Though no one was really acting like it, we all knew his birthday had been approaching. We all knew that it was going to be upon us starting the second 11:59 yesterday turned into 12:00 today.

But despite the expected noise I was awoken by silence, blissfully peaceful silence, which was weird, odd, unheard of.

Instantly I was up.

Weird and silence meant that something was wrong, especially since it was Ace's birthday. Before taking a step away from my hammock I checked my room for traps and pranks that may have been set up while I slept. Fortunately there were none that I could see, not in my room or in the hall or just outside my door. As much as that was a relief the feeling that something was off increased.

Before going up to the galley I checked Ace's room for him. But as was expected it was void of the birthday boy. Sighing I went up the stairs that lead up to the deck and opened the door, stopping short not even two steps out.

Well this certainly explained everything. I thought but what was Willow doing lying in the middle of the deck as well? Ace I could understand, the explanation was easy enough. Their hands were clasped together. She had probably been pulled out of her bed, out of her room and dragged up here and when he had collapsed she had gone down with him and hadn't gotten up because he probably had woken her up enough that she was barely able to walk. But that was only my theory.

Well now that I knew that the ship wasn't about to go down, that the world wasn't about to end and that Ace hadn't caused any apparent trouble I let out a laugh and walked over to the out could in denial couple. It wasn't too early but they were the only two on the ship's deck besides me and the lookout.

"Willow." I said reaching out and gently shaking her. She came too rather quickly, sitting up and muttering my name as she recognized me looking with a confused expression.

"Um . . . hi?" She asked poking Ace in the cheek until his head turned but he didn't stir.

"We need your help kiddo." I told her standing. Ace could wake up and continue whatever he had been going to do without Willow.

"We?" she warily asked giving me this suspicious look.

I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle as I said. "The crew and I. As you know it's Ace's birthday today." He had been singing it to just about everyone for the past month. He'd also dance happily as he proclaimed when his birthday was to friend and foe, person, animal and object alike.

"Oh. It's finally here?"

"Yeah and the crew wants to make him something special-"

"That's where I come in right?"

I nodded. A cake wasn't that special really but not only did everyone like cake but that's what people had besides alcohol on someone's birthdays. Plus Ace always insisted that a birthday was not a birthday without a cake. So because 'his day' only came once a year we let him think that he could do and have whatever he wanted on his birthday. And getting cake was part of getting his way.

"Yup. No one really wants to make that 'something' special for him and so-"

"You all figured I would?"

I nodded again. It would also be rather disastrous for over three-fourths of the crew to actually try and make him anything. Half of the things that he received as presents were simply things that that caught his eyes on a raid or something. We didn't usually go out of our way to celebrate birthdays, well except Pops. We celebrated enough things so birthdays were just another reason to party hard. Not only that but all of our pride would be completely diminished if any of us were caught dead doing anything other than throwing a massive party for him sometime tonight.

She let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand back through her blue hair and said, "Fine. But only because none of you are manly enough to make even a cupcake for your favorite division commander."

She began heading towards the door of the deck but before she could reach it I asked, "Could you make a cake?" Everyone was going to fight over who got the privilege of shoving Ace's face into the cake he annually demanded.

"Yeah I suppose."

Usually we just sent someone, usually a newbie, to buy a cake for the sole purpose of smashing it into his face and therefore meeting his demand of having cake. But we had other unplanned as of yet plans for Willow so we couldn't have her leaving the ship with Ace.

"Any specific flavors?" She asked reaching the door and looking over her shoulder at me.

"I thought you knew Ace better than that." I teased her.

"I-I do." She managed, stammering for the first time in a while. Thankfully she had grown a bit more confident and had been stammering less and less, she wasn't stuttering at every other word and or syllable anymore. And that meant that Ace didn't have to deal out any more black eyes for the people who thought it smart, fun or funny to tease her about it even once.

I smiled at her tomato red face and said, "Alright then you'd better get started."

-Willow-

"What are ya doin' in here girlie?" A voice asked as I turned towards the fridge to get out the eggs and milk, the flour already on the counter.

Out the corner of my eye I saw Cole hop onto the countertop and settle there, intently watching me as I moved about. It had taken forever for me to find a recipe for a cake and even longer for me to locate everything I would need. Fortunately I was making some progress and was close to starting to actually baking the cake I had been requested to make.

"You do know that Fire Fist is already on that inferno island right. You know he's raising some hell without his 'innocent' partner in crime." She said.

"Yeah." Where else would he be if he weren't sleeping still? "Marco wanted me to bake a cake for him."

"Why would he want that?" She asked sounding clueless as to why I would need to make a cake or as to why Marco had requested that I make one. "Why'd you agree to make it?"

"Because I'm probably the only one on this ship capable of making one. I'm probably the only person who is willing to do so at least." There was nothing wrong with making a birthday cake or helping out the crew.

"Yeah that's probably true. But during the few minutes that I stayed on that damn summer island I saw a bakery. You don't have to make one. But otherwise that's probably true. So you have the hots for Mr. Fire Fist dontcha?"

"W-what?" I gasped whipping around to face Cole, who was wagging her eyebrows at me.

"You heard me loud and clear girlie. You've got the hots for Fire Fist and Fire Fist had got the hots for you. Am I incorrect?"

"Yes!" I managed in a louder than it should have been voice. She was as wrong as it was to call Izo a girl.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

There were no feelings between Ace and I, no hots to be had for each other.

Not that I was willing to admit to. But even then I don't think that I have the 'hots' for him, whatever that actually meant.

But before I could say anything else Cole burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she ended up falling off of the counter and landed hard on the floor. She was gasping wildly for air as she clutched her sides. "M-man . . . Willow . . . you-you're . . . such a-a . . . riot." She gasped out in-between fits of laughter and loud inhales for air.

However despite her laughter I was no amused. Heck I didn't even get what was so funny.

Finally though she managed to stop laughing, catch her breath and righted herself, done rolling around on the floor. Cole stood and headed towards the door but before she walked out said, "Come get me when you're done."

"Alright but I might be a while."

"Why? It's just a cake." She asked giving me a weird look. I opened my mouth to explain that I wasn't just making a cake when a smile split across her face and she nodded her head. "Unless you're making more than just a cake for Fire Fist. Something a little extra, something special and just from you right?"

"N-no."

"Oh don't deny it honey."

"Shut up Cole." I managed to grumble at her.

"Then just admit it."

"Yes. Ok I'm making another little something for Ace, something other than cake." It was embarrassing but I hadn't really gotten him anything even though we had known about his birthday for quite a while now. And I really doubted that he'd like a work of art . . . he'd probably try to eat it or something. So I really hoped that he liked brownies since those were the only things I knew how to make by heart.

"You're so cute girlie." She said pinching my cheeks. "Just keep lying to yourself and you're going to come to regret having not told the boy sooner." And with those rather ominous sounding words Cole decided to walk out.

But I didn't have peace and quiet for long, just long enough to put the cake in the oven and start making icing, when the door slammed open with a loud, "What the hell smells so- oh hey Willow. This is where you are!" Those pleasantly surprised words filled the kitchen and my ears before two strong arms wrapped me in a hug from behind. "You know I was told that you had left the ship so that you couldn't explore with me."

"I wonder why they told you that." I muttered swatting Ace's hands away from the bowl of chocolate that was for the icing.

"Willow." He whined trying another line of attack.

"Ace." I tried to make my voice firm, to sound as though I meant it when I said 'no'. But that wasn't working for me, never really had, and would probably never really work for me.

"But it's my birthday." He said as he kept trying to dip a finger into the bowl that I was holding out of his reach.

"How old are you? Are you still seventeen through twenty one or are a bit older?" If he was older than twenty one then he was older than I thought he was, meaning that there was more than a year between our ages. But then deciding that he needed an extra incentive I added, "Tell me how old you are and you might get a treat." Extra incentives usually worked with Ace.

He stopped struggling and put his lips so close to my ear that they grazed against it. His hot shallow breath sent freezing cold shivers down my spine and raised goosebumps along my arms and across the back of my neck. I swear he was doing it on purpose, trying to make me react like this.

Then ever so quietly he said, "I'm twenty."

I squeezed my eyes tightly closed then quickly opened them. "A-alright. You- you can have the b-bowl in the sink." I told him.

"YES!" He cheered unwrapping his arms from around my waist and his strong chest disappeared from behind my back, his body no longer pressing me into the counter as he strained to reach the icing I was making.

He grabbed the bowl from the sink and like Cole had, hopped onto the counter. Unlike Cole though he chose the counter right next to me, running his index finger along the inside of the bowl and then sticking it into his mouth. "This is delicious. So what are you making?"

"It's your birthday remember?" I reminded him in case he had somehow managed to forget this fact within the previous seconds, minute at the most.

"Are you baking me a present?" The excitement in his voice rose considerably. I avoided the question and we talked for a while. At random intervals he'd ask the question and I'd avoid it every time. We talked until the timer for the cake went off and he asked the question again.

"Look I can't tell you. Now take the bowl with you and get on out of here." Despite having been in the kitchen for a while he was still in the process of literally licking the bowl clean.

"You wound me." He gasped.

"You're logia, you'll be fine. Now get out." I grabbed his wrist and pulled him off of the counter and to the door. Unlike the first time he had used that as an excuse I knew that he meant. I knew what a logia was.

Opening the door I was surprised to came face to face with Haruta, who smiled and pulled Ace out of the kitchen handing him a piece of paper saying, "Yeah. I figured you'd be here. Here figure this out. We decided that instead of giving you your birthday presents you'd have to find them. Knock yourself out." Those were the only words that needed to be spoken to have Ace's undivided attention. After skimming over the paper Ace looked up, smiled at the both of us and raced out as fast as he could.

Once Ace had zoomed off Haruta walked in and asked, "Are you almost done? That's not going to keep the birthday boy busy for long."

"Yeah. I just need to put the icing on them and stick them in the fridge."

"Then hurry up kiddo."

"Don't rush me." This had to be perfect.

"Don't put too much love into it. We're just going to smash his face in it."

"Oh."

"So but all the icing on the top." He suggested as I stopped the annoying beeping and pulled the cake out of the oven. Wordlessly I obeyed, not bothering to make the cake pretty, not that he would have noticed the designs I would have put time and energy into.

"Good. Now let's go. We've got other plans for you."

"Huh?" I asked as I was walked out of the kitchen.

-Ace-

I smiled at the hand written buffet tickets from just about half of the crew. I couldn't wait to use them! My stomach growled at the sheer thought of a buffet meal.

I raced off to the kitchen to not only return the licked as clean as I could possibly get it bowl but to also show off my newly acquired loot!

"Lookie what I-" I exclaimed bursting into an empty kitchen. ", got." I finished with a normal voice and a frown as I looked around. "Where'd you go?" I wondered aloud as I tossed the bowl into the sink. "Wiiiiiiillllllllooooooow!" I shouted for her as I raced out of the kitchen.

"You lookin' for the kiddo?" Fossa asked stopping me after I leapt down from the empty crow's-nest and onto the deck.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"It's a bit obvious Ace. But I think she said something about a birthday surprise for you in your room." He said.

"Really?" I asked before racing past him, through the door, down the stairs and into the hallway. Reaching my slightly singed, but otherwise unmarked door I grabbed the handle and flung it open as I stepped in, flipping on the lights as well.

I heard a sharp intake of breath that wasn't mine before I froze dead in my tracks not even two and a half steps into my room.

"OH MY SHOLY SHIT!" I exclaimed seeing what was on my bed.

Was I even seeing correctly?

Just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming I pinched the skin of my arm in quite a few places and then gently smacked myself on my cheeks. But still the sight before me stayed in place, the scene didn't change in any way shape and or form.

A blue haired, green eyed girl was lying on my bed with dark purple and bright orange ribbon wrapped around her, curling her into a loose fetal position that the binds held her in. The dark purple ribbon tied her ankles and knees together, wrapped around her thighs in two places then went up her torso and what I could see of her back and sides. The purple ribbon also tied her wrists together and held them to her clothed chest. The orange ribbon on the other hand didn't appear to be doing any tying, just decorating, and crisscrossing over the dark purple ribbon and her clothes, which she was still thankfully earing. Though her black pants had been swapped for those extremely short shorts I hadn't seen since her second day as a pirate.

Before I made any other kind of move, I moved my leg back and quickly kicked my door shut so that nobody could walk by and just happen to see this sight. I could just imagine all the shit I'd get if anyone saw this.

"Oh thank god you're finally here." The tangled up girl on my bed breathed out, the look of relief on her face didn't help at all.

This was not good, not good at all. My mind- being the sometimes perverted organ it is- immediately went to all of the things I could do, not only with her but with that ribbon.

But my conscious stepped in and tried to tell my mind that not only would those things be wrong- extremely wrong- but not very gentlemanly either.

But then my mind argued that she was like that for a reason, that she wasn't tied up because she was in the mood to be bound like so.

Then my conscious- I was at war with myself, in my head!

So I firmly gave it a good and firm shake. And as I stepped closer to my bed asked, "What in the name of hell are you doing on my bed like this?"

I considered birthday seduction but Willow wasn't really the seducing type. Unfortunately it didn't cross my mind till later that she hadn't done this to herself, or that there were other minds at work behind this slightly erotic sight on my bed.

She managed a shrug somehow. "Could you please untie me?" Willow's discomfort was obvious. So I nodded and began trying to find the start of either ribbon so that I could untie it and start unraveling her.

I considered burning it but was suddenly afraid that the entire thing would catch on fire and Willow would burn then catch my bed on fire and then the ship and then we were all going to go down.

So I reached down my pant leg and pulled out the dagger that was strapped there. I suppose I could have simply ripped it but that didn't cross my mind either.

When Willow saw it she flinched but said nothing. "Hey." I frowned at the action. "You know I'm not going to hurt you." That should have been obvious and that flinch was unnecessary!

"I-I know." She said, inching away as I brought the knife closer to the strand of red ribbon that went between her shoulder and her knees.

"You want to be untied don't you?" I impatiently asked. We both knew that I wouldn't hurt her, plus traitors weren't exactly welcome on this ship and killing family is traitorous.

She nodded.

"Then stop moving." And with that she did. I cut the red ribbon first and pulled that off. After the ribbon was but a pile on the floor I did the same to the purple ribbon.

"Thank you so much." She said stretching out on my bed and rubbing at her arms and legs.

"No problem. But you know you fail at seducing me right." I had determined that what she had been doing despite everything that told me that she wasn't the type.

Willow raised an eyebrow and slowly asked. "Oh really Mr. Ace?"

I nodded.

"So if I had been a bit less clothed and begging you wouldn't have done anything?"

"Nope."

With a smile she began making these really sexual sounding moans, pants and ah's. And when she did I decided that I'd wait for her to stop before questioning her about what she was doing. But when my name slipped out in a winded sounded moan I slapped my hand over her mouth and hissed, "What the hell are you doing?"

I felt Willows mouth curl into a smile as she pulled my hand off of her moth so that she could answer. "You see the crew thought it would be fun if they made me your birthday present and their expecting us to do . . . things."

"Nuh-uh. I got food tickets." I told her. Most of them were I owe U's but same difference. They both promised food!

"Those were a distraction Ace." She told me in a slow voice as if I wouldn't be able to understand her if she spoke in a normal speed.

"What?" I asked shocked yet not. "Well those were a pretty damn good distraction." Haruta's piece of paper had told me that there were fifty to collect and I wasn't giving a single one back. "But that doesn't explain why you're making those sounds."

"We're expected to do things."

"Things?" I asked cocking my head to the side. I felt like I was missing something here.

"Sex ok? They're expecting us to screw around a bit."

"And so you make noises like that?"

Willow hung her head, reached behind me and smacked me with my own pillow. "Yes."

TO get even with her I grabbed my other pillow and smacked her in the head too. So hard that she toppled over in my bed with a whimpered 'ow'. But then she just lay there, panting and letting out loud moans and my name again.

So again I hit her, hissing, "Stop that."

"Aaah. Don't stop Ace." She moaned out as she sat up and hit me in the chest with a wink.

"Oh. Oooh." I smiled and jumped up, giving Willow room to stand as well. "I get it." I whispered leaning into her with a grin. We were going to mess around a bit but not the way that the crew wanted us to. I bet this was all Cole's idea.

But instead of getting closer to me she stood on my bed and bounced a bit, waving me over silently. "Harder!" She groaned bouncing a bit so that the bed creaked.

"Harder?" I didn't know if she wanted me to hit her harder of if she were just saying it for the benefit of whatever audience we supposedly had.

"Yeah come on, you've got to get into this so it'll be more fun."

"Are you sure? What if I hurt you?" I asked stepping up onto my bed.

"I'll heal." She told me with a smile but those words weren't very comforting at all.

-Marco-

The moment someone gave the signal that Ace was in his room and that the door was shut, the crew came out of hiding and gathered near the entrance of the barracks in case they came out. But even then some of the crew spilled out of the entrance and into the hallway.

Sighing I shook my head but stayed out in the hallway, leaning against the wall on one side of the door to the barracks. The walls were quite thin so it wouldn't take much for them to be heard. I was simply here to make sure that things didn't go horribly wrong. I couldn't think of anything that could possibly go awry with people of the opposite sex and ribbon- ok scratch that there were lots of things that could go terribly wrong. But not with Ace and Willow, or so I desperately hoped. And if for some reason things did manage to go wrong I was here to save the day and patch things up.

Of course the rest of the crew wouldn't stop giving me crap about being a perverted old man, which I denied but had given up explaining my reasons to them.

There was yet another loud thud and then the words, "Ace stop being so rough."

The more noises, thumps, thuds and moans, groans, sighs and whimpers that there were the more words that were spoken from the other side of the door, the more bloody noses there were on this side of the door. It was rather amusing yet mildly disturbing to watch Pops crew being reduced to a bunch of perverts with bloody noses and some unconscious comrades.

"Shut up and take it!" Ace's voice sounded followed by a whap and a whimpered ow.

I looked around and saw that eyes had widened and that looks were being exchanged, as if they had to confirm that it was Ace and Willow in there behind that closed door. But besides Pops they were the only two missing from the group. Some nurses were standing around the hall, whispering and giggling at times.

After that several people fell back with massive nose bleeds, some people just lay there, now unconscious. The nurses looked at them and then at each other, not moving, not doing a single thing about it. Though none of the crew would die of a bloody nose, so it was fine I suppose.

From the crowd rose a person that picked their way through the body of the crew before settling themselves against the wall beside me with crossed arms. It was a moment before they spoke. "So do you really think it's Willow and Fire Fist in there?"

"It's them." I confirmed. I wasn't too thrilled that they had such an audience and if Myra saw this she'd beat the crew senseless, there would be rolling heads and she'd be spitting fire. She would be so pissed that I hadn't done anything to stop the crew. Thank god Myra wasn't here. I also wasn't too thrilled that the crew was deriving any pleasure from this.

"But do you really think it's them in there? I mean its Willow and Ace. They're going at it like freaky animals." They said.

"I'm aware." I could hear just as well as Cole and the rest of the crew. I could hear every whimper, loud sigh and vocal gasp. I could hear the thumps, bumps and few crashes that sounded behind that door.

Cole chuckled. "I'm sure you are." She paused for a few minutes, just long enough for the words 'no n-not there!' to be faintly heard. She let out a short laugh and shook her head. "God, they even sound like freaks."

"Maybe we should break them up, or knock on the door at least." Then after we docked somewhere else they could go at it where the entire crew couldn't hear them, where they didn't have an audience.

"Hold your horse's phoenix boy. No one's forcing them to do anything."

"We set them up." At least she hadn't been naked or tied to the bed or anything else. Really the ribbon had been the tamest one that had been thrown out there, the only one that Willow had been somewhat willing to go along with.

"But they could be doing that cutesy snuggling stuff."

"Ace doesn't do cutesy."

"Really? Willow does. And besides he doesn't do aggressive, rough and rather dirty either. I mean he's a freak, point blank. But he's not that kind of freak as far as I'm aware at least." Cole said. We talked over Aces and Willow's voices.

I didn't know what to say to that. Mostly because her words were true and there wasn't much else to say. Ace was- as Cole had kindly put- a freak, but he was Ace. Usually there were no words to describe the boy.

"Hey." She suddenly said looking over at me.

"Hmm?"

"It's quiet now." Cole let out a laugh. "You now I bet he fell asleep. Let's just take a tiny peek at them." She grabbed my wrist and had already started picking her way across to the other side of the hall.

"He probably did." I agreed. "But I don't think you should-"

"I just want to see if they did anything. I mean they could have just been making sounds and throwing things around." Cole said reaching the door.

"I doubt Ace would do that." I muttered under my breath only to receive this 'oh really' look from Cole.

"That's quite debatable is it not?" She tried the door and frowned. "It's locked." She examined her only tatted arm with an even deeper frown. "Well damn that sucks. I aint got nothin' useful on me today either."

"That's just too bad." I dryly said, rather happy that they had been smart enough to lock the door and that Cole didn't have anything tatted on her arm that could have helped her get into the room. I had no desire to know if those two had sex or were just doing as Cole had suggested and were just making noise.

"Yeah yeah, try not to look so over joyed. I mean we should probably clean up the crew before they," she inclined her head towards the closed and locked door. ", decide to get decent again and come out of hiding. You know, before he realizes that he was set up." She said.

"He's not stupid." If Ace wanted to be, he could be quite intelligent. Plus Willow had probably told him why she was tied up in ribbon on his bed in the first place.

"That commander is a rather questionably statement." She said while beginning to push some of the crew members that had flooded out of the barracks and into the hall back into the barracks, leaving trails of blood on the floors.

Having nothing better to do I ordered the nurses to bring some cleaning supplies as to get the blood off the floor and then followed suit.

-Willow-

We were sweating heavily and clutching pillows that had been turned into weapons. However we were both grinning as we circled each other like birds of prey around a carcass.

"D-don't . . . stop . . . now." I quietly panted.

"Tired?" He whispered in a teasing tone as he reached up and pushed damp hair back off of his face. A few of those strands stayed where they had been pushed when he had removed it.

"Hmm." I audibly thought aloud. "Yeah kind of."

"Ok then." He winked at me before loudly asking, "Ready for the grand finale?" As he asked this he lifted the pillow high above his head.

When I saw that I shook my head as I backed up a few steps. "N-not really."

"Well too bad!" He exclaimed rushing towards me. Surprised I let out a screech as I tried to scramble back. Only I ended up tripping over my own feet.

Almost instantly he was on top of me and smacking me with his pillow.

"Ace!" I screeched using my pillow as a shield as I tried to stop him. But it wasn't until he suddenly rolled off of me and onto his back next to me did he let up and then stop.

"That was fun." He breathlessly said with a laugh.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"We should do that again."

"Yeah."

"Is that all you can say?" Ace asked moving his head so that he was looking at me but was still lying on his back.

"No." I contemplated rolling over onto my side but decided that I'd be like Ace and just be lazy and move only my head. "Happy birthday."

Ace smiled and I thought he was going to kiss me until his lips pressed themselves against my forehead.

I don't know how we did it but we fell asleep right there in the middle of his bedroom floor, sweaty, hot and trying to breathe regularly once more. And despite being on the floor of someone else's room I slept well because today had been a very long day, one that had started at three am this morning.

However despite my deep sleep I was awoken by a loud grumbling right below my ear that startled me out of unconsciousness, or at least partially woke me up.

The words, "You awake?" chased away the rest of the stubbornly lingering unconsciousness.

"Hmm." I muttered wrapping my arms tighter around my pillow.

"I'm starving." Ace voice exclaimed quietly from somewhere above me.

"You're always starving." I told him snuggling into my pillow even more.

"Yeeeeah but if I eat I won't be starving anymore."

"That's true."

"Plus I haven't had that cake smashed into my face." I could almost hear the grin in his voice when he said that, which was just too much for my sleepy mind.

"And you . . . want that?"

"YES! Cake is awesome! And I heard a rumor yesterday that it was made by a very good cook."

"I made it." I muttered not wanting to move. I was extremely comfortable right where I was. I really just wanted to go back to sleep.

Almost instantly my pillow went from horizontal to vertical. I clung tightly, for dear life, to my pillow, the grumbling sound resounding yet again and this time it was louder. "Then let's go! I wanna get cake smashed in my face! Come on, up to your feet!" With that I was grabbed from under my arms and hoisted off of my knees and onto my feet.

"My pillow." I said with a frown.

"My stomach was your pillow, was it comfy?" He asked aiming a goofy grin my direction.

I felt my face flush as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "S-sorry. If . . . if it makes you f-feel better . . . you-your stomach- it's-it was c-comfortable."

Ace let out a laugh putting his arm around my shoulders. "You know for a pirate you're awfully adorable." When my face got even hotter than before he laughed even harder and then he began leading us towards the door of his room.

"I've been called a lot worse." I muttered. Adorable was in fact one of the best things that someone had called me. Ironic when it had come from a pirate, a criminal of the seas.

He pinched my cheek and said, "You're blushing." Of course those words didn't help much.

"O-of course I am." I grumbled swatting his hands away from my face as we climbed the stairs that led to the deck.

When we reached the top he shoved the door open and ran out into the middle of the deck shouting, "CAAAAAAAAAAKE!" His eyes must have been shut because if they weren't then he would have seen Thatch creeping up to him, chocolate cake balanced on the palm of his hand.

Our eyes met and he lifted his index finger up to his lips with his free hand, silently telling me to be quiet as if I was being loud to begin with, as if I was going to warn Ace anyway. He's the one who wanted the cake with all of the icing piled on the top to be smashed into his face. So who was I to deprive the man of that? Who was I to stop him, to deprive him of the pleasure?

So I stood by and watched Thatch slam the cake into Ace's face so hard that not only did chunks of chocolate cake and icing go flying everywhere but Ace was also sent staggering back.

When he regained his footing he turned towards me with wide eyes and a chocolate covered face. "This is the best cake EEEEEEVEEEER!" then he opened his arms wide and before I could tell him to stop, to not give me that incoming hug, his strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me roughly into his splattered body and proceeded to try and kill me via a hug.

"Uh Ace. . ." I heard Thatch's voice say but that didn't even get Ace's attention, it did nothing to ease the constrictor like grip he had on me.

"Yo Fire Fist, you like the girlie right?" A laughing voice shouted. Judging by the nicknames the laughing person was Cole. I half saw, half felt him nod his head and when she saw the movement as well she continued, "Then I suggest you release your hold on little miss here or else you're going to be the end of her."

"What no!" He exclaimed instantly shoving me away from him so roughly and suddenly that I ended up tripping backwards and landing on the hard deck.

For a few seconds I sat there no only catching my breath and making sure that I was in one piece and nothing was broken I gathered my bearings. One minute I was being hugged to death and then next I'm on the deck because of Cole's overly efficient words.

"Happy birthday." Thatch said putting his arm around Ace's shoulders as Marco offered a hand to help me up.

"Do I get my celebration now?" He asked looking around as if searching for signs of a party.

"Yeah. We've been waiting for you."

"Finally! I was waiting all yesterday! It's about time!" He then swiped a finger down his cheek and offered it to Thatch asking, "Wanna try some? Willow made it. It's delicious."

Thatch pulled away from Ace and tried to politely decline the offer. However Ace wouldn't accept no and after chasing him around the deck for a few minutes Ace stopped, grinned and sucked the chocolate off his finger with a shrug.

After that he said, I don't wanna share with you anyways. And besides it's about time you guys celebrated my day. For god's sake it's about twelve hours late."

"You were . . . busy." Thatch looked away from Ace as if embarrassed. Either that or he was guilty of something and didn't want us to be able to tell.

"We didn't think you'd want to be interrupted." Marco said stepping in.

"Well you were correct. Hey, wanna try some of Willows cake?" He offered another chocolate covered finger to someone despite his earlier statement, despite having said that he didn't want to share anyways.

"Stop offering people cake from your face- that's just weird Ace. And start celebrating already." Cole said sauntering up to him with a glass of something in hand.

He let out a whoop of joy and with that his birthday celebration got swinging.

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A/N: Well the ending is coming soon, I haven't written it yet but I'm getting there. I promise.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	21. Chapter 21

"Hey Willow!" A happy voice said as a head of black hair and a face full of freckles popped into view over the side of the crow's-nest. It was quite a nice and peaceful place to sketch which was exactly what I was currently doing. The sky was slightly with patches of large and rather ominous looking rain clouds. It looked as though those clouds were going to open up and release a downpour of heavy rain.

"Hello Ace." I said not looking up and not pausing. Because of the impending rain I was in a bit of a hurry to complete my drawing so that I could quickly get inside before the heavens opened up. Even if there were still large patches of open sky, I still wanted to finish my drawing.

"Wanna go on a raid? There's a ship coming up and we're going to raid it. Maybe they'll have a devil fruit on it or something." He made the last part sound as though he thought the idea of a devil fruit might entice me into joining him and the crew members who chose to partake in the raid.

"Yeah maybe." But I wasn't too interested, I'd rather draw since well we- the Whitebeard Pirates- raid a lot of ships and therefore I could always raid another ship at a different time.

"You don't want to go." Ace sighed the words, as though he were disappointed and he probably was. But still I wasn't going. His words weren't in the form of a question as far as I could tell.

"Not really. Maybe next time." I told him not hiding my disinterest.

"But if you find a devil fruit you get to eat it." He used the supposedly rare fruit to persuade me to come on the raid with him and the rest of the crew. It was rare for a pirate crew to have one of those accursed fruits and so his main argument fell sort of flat. Plus there was no way I was going to find a devil fruit.

"Nah. Someone's got to be able to save you from the ocean in which you so foolishly decide to sail upon." He's fallen in a few times. I mean I didn't save Ace's day every time he managed to end up in the water but what did it matter? Some people needed to be able to swim. Not only that but I liked swimming and water and stuff. Not only that but knowing my luck I'd eat the devil fruit and kill myself via water because only after eating it would I miraculously fall in.

"I don't need to be saved Willow." He argued with a straight face. But if I were to try and count the times he needed to be saved, maybe not from danger but from other things like crew mates and situations he had gotten himself into, I would need several more hands.

"In the water you do." I told him finally pausing in the picture I was sketching and looking up at him. Seriously I might be the one who needed saved most of the time- not that I needed to be saved often, just as often as he needed to be saved from the water- but things happened.

"Shut up." He pouted, admitting that my words were indeed true. "Just come with me. Pleeeaaaaase. I'll leave you alone about the next few raids if you accompany me this time" He reached over the side of the crow's-nest and grabbed ahold of my wrist, lightly tugging on it. "Come one. You can come back to drawing later you know." I don't know why he wanted me to come with him so badly but I still didn't have any more interest in going now then I had a few minutes ago.

"I know." But I was really comfortable right where I was; I was in the middle of a picture and didn't feel like getting up and going to raid a ship.

I bet the other crew was shaking in whatever footwear they wore just by the flag that so proudly fluttered in the wind. And if they weren't doing that they were basking in sweet ignorance and bliss because they did not realize what was coming to them.

Plus raids were fun and for striking fear into the heart of people and for the sheer fun of terrorizing people. Heck I even had a bounty partially due to that. People realized 'oh hey there's a blue haired chick who's always with them, let's give her a bounty.' Of course it didn't rival any one else's bounties, even Sanji had a higher bounty then I did, somewhere between 75,000,000 and 79,000,000. Of course that was nothing to Aces, Marco's or anyone else's really but I had a bounty, a real live wanted poser and a bounty. I was just as wanted as the rest of the crew. And I still didn't know if I liked that or not.

"Pleeeeeease." Ace tried again with hands folded together and a whiney voice.

I let out a sigh and put my pad of paper, supplied by Cole, and pencil down.

"Yes." He hissed out quietly. I think he did it so quietly so that I wouldn't hear his excitement but he failed because I heard him just fine. "Let's go. They're not even five minut-" A collective cheer sounded out, interrupting Ace's sentence. "Aaaaw crap Willow you're making us late to the party!" And with that he quickly scrambled into the crow's-nest faster than my mind could comprehend. He wrapped an arm around my waist, tightly hugged me to his body, stepped onto the edge of the crow's-nest and before I could protest, before I could utter a single sound or even begin struggling against him he leapt out of it.

As simple and easy as that.

We landed hard on the deck but in one piece. Even better I was still alive. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. He didn't let me go until we were on the ship of the other ships deck. He grinned widely at me and put me down on my own two feet. "Now's a great chance to show off the skills you've supposedly been learning. I mean unless you haven't learned anything and just carry those things around for show." He teased lightly pulling at the crescents at either of my hips.

Around us a battle raged.

Well it wasn't much of a battle for the Whitebeard Pirates but more of a pastime. But for the other crew they were fighting, with drawn swords, perspiring faces and determined expressions.

"I don't need to show off." I grumbled at him.

"Come one it's a lot more fun when you show off. And besides everyone thinks you've been slacking off and don't contribute to the crew."

"No they don't." I weakly argued. I mean there was no way that was true, not when I tried to make myself as useful as possible. Not when I tried to train with at least someone every day. I bet Ace was just saying this because he could, because he thought it'd get me into action.

"Yeah you're right they don't." Ace admitted scratching the back of his head and ducked a random sword that was being swung around. "You know what I'm just going to stand here." And with that he crossed his arms over his chest. "So if you don't hop to it I'm going to get real injured." He gave me this look, this 'and you wouldn't want that' kind of look.

"Ace!" I shouted pushing him out of the way of some sword wielding guy.

"That was a close one." He said wiping his brow as if he had been worried.

"Ace you can't do this!"

"Why not?" Ace innocently asked. Damn when he wanted to he could pull off innocent quite well.

Did he really see nothing wrong with what he was doing?

"Because. Please, not here not now." This was one of the worst times for him to pull this. I mean yeah raids were supposed to be fun but what if I missed or didn't see an attack? And from the sounds of it he wasn't going to turn himself into fire to avoid getting impaled, which worried me extremely.

"Why not? I know I can put my life in your hands if I need to."

"Yeah but-" I don't think he realized what he was saying. Even if he could trust his live in the hands of just about every other crew member, those words still meant more than they should.

"No buts." Ace interrupted me with ease.

"Fine. You get your way. But I expect you to have my back." I told him with a roll of my eyes as I gripped my weapons, looking for any threats to Ace's health. I mean there was no reason that anyone would come after me especially if they wanted bounties. His was far more impressive than mine.

"Of course." He flashed a grin and lightly elbowed me. "Don't forget to have fun."

"I'll try not to." Raids weren't my favorite thing, I would much rather be drawing right now. But it couldn't be helped.

"Loosen up Willow." He said blasting a guy I should have been able to sense was sneaking up behind me. "Less talking more fighting." He added with yet another grin.

With another roll of my eyes and short huff I obeyed my superior and began fending people off, away from him. I was dancing circles around him as he grabbed somebodies sword and began having his fun.

The rival crew seemed to be endless. I mean really where were they all coming from? Their ship was only so large. And for every one that Ace cut down or blasted five or so men lunged at him, from all sides and it was my job to keep them away, to make sure that their fists, weapons, perspiration or spit didn't touch him. And I think I was doing a pretty good job at doing so.

The raid stopped around sunset when the skies were turning from blue to pink and orange. And we were all gathered on the deck of the ship. I stood next to Ace with Cole on my other side and Teach, a guy I never really got the chance to get to know, stood not far behind us. Several other crew mates gathered around staring at what Thatch held in his hand.

"Ace, I found something interesting!" He exclaimed holding up a purple thing.

"Aww sick a devil fruit?" A voice whispered from next to me. So that's what a devil fruit looked like. Strange.

It was kind of weird that Ace had been right, that the crew had indeed possessed a devil fruit. And when I looked over at him Ace had a slightly shocked look on his face as he asked, "Oh, ain't that a devil fruit?"

"I don't know what kind of fruit it is though, yet." Thatch continued scratching the back of his head.

There was a noise behind me, maybe a chuckle of sorts before I was shoved into Ace, who was as surprised as I was and failed to catch me or himself so we toppled to the ground. Cole managed to prevent herself from falling to the ground.

Ace was of course to his feet a lot faster than I was but even that wasn't fast enough to stop Teach from plunging a sword into Thatch's vulnerable, open and unsuspecting back. The large man I had never gotten the chance to get to know grabbed the devil fruit and left as quickly as he could. And while Ace furiously tore after the traitor I crawled over to Thatch's body. Bright crimson stained the back of his white shirt, the back of the yellow foulard and the deck.

Swallowing hard I grabbed his shoulders and rolled him over, checking for signs of life.

Oh god he couldn't be dead. He couldn't have been killed, not after such a good raid. Not for that accursed fruit and not by a crew mate. As rain started to drizzle down tears blurred my vision and began slipping down my cheeks, mixing with the rain as it was the blood, washing it away.

"Thatch." I shook him unwilling to believe that he was dead. He was a pretty nice guy and if Teach had asked for the fruit maybe he would have received it. "Thatch please." I begged praying that he'd magically not be dead.

-Ace-

The only reason that bastard ran was because he knew that if he stayed a second more he'd be dead and even if he didn't stay he was going to die.

I could barely contain my rage.

God so help him when I got my hands on him he was going to look like that guy I had helped Willow take care of. Not only was he under my division but the bastard had just thrown everything Pops had done for him into his face.

Willow was crying over Thatch's dead body and if I let him escape then he won't be able to rest in peace.

I was going to avenge him.

However everyone was getting in my way, trying to stop me. Several people were holding me back.

"Stop it Ace." Someone to my left tried.

"Calm down." Another shouted.

But I wouldn't hear it. I wasn't going to calm down, and I wasn't going to stop. Not until I had avenged Thatch.

"The old man said he'd make an exception, just this once." A large man who was holding my arm and shoulder tightly growled at me as if I hadn't heard Pops the first time. "You don't have to chase after Teach!"

I wrenched out of his grasp and whorled on him shouting, "Let me go! He was a member of my division!"

And therefore was my responsibility. And that meant that if there was a traitor in my division I had to be the one to take care of them and god dammit I was going to take care of Teach, whether I had to or not. The longer we stood here talking the farther away Teach got and the longer it would take for me to take revenge. What Teach did was intolerable and unforgiveable and god dammit someone has to take care of the traitor.

"If I just ignore this, Thatch won't be able to rest in peace!" I shouted at them. I wasn't going to go after the bastard for my own pleasure. I was going to avenge Thatch. End of story. The least he deserved was to be able to rest in peace.

"Ace." Pops said getting my attention, causing me to stop struggling against people that weren't trying to hold me back at the moment. Despite the fact that this was a great moment to get going I stopped and waited to see what he was going to say. "It's fine, just this once. I have a weird feeling about this."

Just this once he was going to make an exception because of a weird feeling?! I don't think so. Who gave a damn about weird feelings? So if Pops wasn't going to take any measures against him then I would.

"He killed a crewmate," Thatch was so much more than just a crewmate! ",and escaped!" Did he not see what was so wrong with this?! I couldn't just let this go. "After living under your protection for so many years he just spat right in your face!"

Was there something wrong with Pops? This was not an offence that we could let slide so easily. The very thought of him having not only killed Thatch but having also betrayed Pops after everything he's done for the vermin just pissed me off. No it did far more than simply pissing me off.

"Above all else he tarnished his father's name." I said pulling my hat onto my head and walking towards the edge of the ship. This time no one tried to stop me, in fact they moved out of my way which was a hell of a lot safer for their health then trying to stop me was. It was awfully hard to change my mind once it was already made up and unless I was physically unable to move, unable to continue on, my mind was made up.

"You think I can just ignore that?" I took a few steps forwards, almost testingly. I was waiting for everyone to jump, to try and restrain me, I was waiting for Pops to try and stop me, but he didn't. No one made a move.

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A/N: Yup the beginning of the end. Man I hope this chapter was ok and that I didn't miss anything too important.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	22. Chapter 22

I was almost there, almost off the ship and therefore almost out of the reach of anyone who was going to try and stop me.

Off to my left I heard a quiet, "Go." before Willow stumbled across my path, my backpack in hand.

I stopped but was still prepared for the order, for the crew to jump me. If I had to I'd fight my way off of this ship. The blood on her clothes only added to the flame as I clenched and unclenched my fists at my sides. Despite my barely containable rage I wasn't going to push her aside, god only knew I'd end up pushing her overboard, which was something neither I nor the crew needed to deal with at the moment. But I also wasn't going to let her stop me either. If men half my size and Pops couldn't do it then she definitely couldn't.

"I-I'm-" She began stuttering, looking up at me with sad eyes.

"Get out of my way." I interrupted her taking what I hoped to be a menacing step forwards. My goal was to make her move on her own so that I could get going so that I could be on my way. Because the last thing I wanted to hear right now was some kind of please stay plea with large watery eyes and folded together hands. Teach was getting farther and farther away the more we stood here and talked.

"T-take me with-with . . . you?" It wasn't even a demand, more of a question than anything. Willow just barely managed to get those words out of her mouth. And instead of being spoken in a strong, convincing and determined voice she sounded scared and timid.

Plus I couldn't do that to her. Granted I was going to come back but if something to her I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. And what if something happened to me? That would leave her alone and vulnerable, open for attack from Marines, pirates, sea kings, creepers and weirdo's, ANYTHING. God only knew she didn't know how to find her way back to the Moby Dick or back to Pops and she didn't know half of our ally so she couldn't rely on them either.

Why was I not surprised to hear those words come from her mouth?

"You're supposed to be stopping him!" Cole's voice hissed from somewhere to the side of us. But that fact hardly registered in my mind. I was planning what I was going to do when I caught up to the damn traitor and how I was going to go about things.

I shook my head. "No."

"But I-I could be of-of great help . . . to you." Willow weakly tried to argue.

Unfortunately now my mind was made up on two things. One leaving and two leaving without her. So I just let out a forced laugh as I shook my head at her and said, "No."

"B-but-" She began.

"Stop playing pirate Willow!" I shouted at her. She was not coming, end of story. "This isn't a game anymore!"

"Ace I-" She now looked on the verge of tears.

Shit! I mentally cursed. The last thing I needed now was tears.

But then she continued talking. "Since you won't take me and I-I know I can't stop you from going-"

"Damn right. Now get out of my way." I took another step forwards, this time though it was only half of a step, leaving only inches between our bodies. I was now looking down at her. I was glad she realized that she was not coming with me.

"I want . . . I want you to . . . kick his a-ass for us alright?" Willow said in a voice that had gotten quieter and quieter.

I nodded. That exactly what I was trying to do but I couldn't do that from the deck of the Moby Dick!

"A-and I want you to know that I-I-Please be safe and I-I lo-don't forget to keep in touch." her voice had gone from its usual quiet tone to a hoarse whisper, her face a bright pink as she pressed my backpack into my arms and stepped aside, gesturing out towards the open sea, towards my boat that awaited below.

I nodded at her before shouting, "I'll settle this!" There was without a doubt in my mind that I was going to settle this and avenge Thatch. I quickly hopped onto the side of the ship and jumped down onto my boat. The crew behind me was silent at first with Marco's voice telling me to wait, to come back. I bet he wanted me to think 'rationally' or something. Then the rest of the crew began shouting at me, for me to listen to Pops.

But I was finally on my way.

After a while of following leads around to different islands on the Grand Line I cooled down. I had infiltrated a marine base, helped a milkmaid, and gotten the information that I had needed. After that I visited a winter island. Only to find that the damn bastard wasn't there, that I had missed him. So I told some people that I happened by to relay a message to Luffy and then had to run because someone from the restaurant I had eaten at realized that I hadn't paid for my food so I had to make a quick getaway. I really hope that they did so. Ten days, I'd wait ten days for the little idiot on the summer island. I really hoped that he'd be able to meet me there. He made a big brother worry so much.

I was going to wait for Luffy in Alabasta, which was now on the horizon, a place I'd reach sometime tomorrow. But for now I was just bobbing on the waves of the sea relaxing. Since I was doing nothing I figured that I'd call up the crew, see how everyone was doing.

-Willow-

I knocked on the door of Marco's quarters nervously. I had been spending a lot of time with him and Cole in the training room but I was still a bit nervous to ask for help. But he was a good opponent for practicing with my crescents because I could slice at him all I want and not hurt him at all.

"You lookin' for me?" A voice asked down the hall as footsteps approached.

I jumped and whorled around reaching for my weapons. After drawing them I realized that the voice belonged to a rather looking amused Marco. I looked between him and the weapons in my hand. "Uhh sorry. Y-yeah."

"Do you need something?" He asked.

"W-well I was hoping that you would do a bit of weapon training with me."

"I suppose I have a few minutes." He teased with a smile. That was a yes. "But you know Ace didn't mean what he said."

"Of course he did. Something made him say it." They had to have come from somewhere right? So I was going to get stronger so that when he saw me next he wouldn't be able to say that I was playing pirate, that I could prove that I had never viewed being a pirate as a game.

"He was mad. You know now that I think about it you've never seen him get mad like that have you?"

I shrugged unsure if I had or hadn't seen him like that before. Because I know I've seen him mad but I didn't know if I had seen him quite that mad.

"Well he didn't mean it trust me Willow. You might not know it but he cares deeply for you."

I snorted at that even as his words made my heart race and a smile quiver on my lips.

"Or don't believe me, your choice." He looked at the weapons I hadn't yet put away and with a smile asked, "So are you going to stand there on guard or are you going to attack me?"

"We're not in the training room." I said. I wasn't just going to attack him in the hall.

"That's fine. No real fights are going to start or get finished in that room."

"Right." I nodded and lunged at him. This was one of the few times since Ace left that I had been out of the training room. I of course ate, showered and slept but that was mostly at night. I spent most of the days training and if I wasn't training so that I could get stronger, then I was searching for certain commanders and crew members to help me. Most of the time they agreed to do so or were annoyed that I had taken Ace's words to heart.

While I swung more than just my fists he threw in commentary, tips and criticism. Somehow we 'fought' our way to the training room and then into the room itself. I smiled at him as he allowed himself to be backed into a wall. Not bothering to avoid an attack he reached over and pulled a sheathed katana off of the wall and began countering and blocking my attacks with that, forcing me to block, evade and counter his attacks and advances as well.

This went on for a while before Cole popped her head into the room and said "Hey girlie I got someone on the line for you."

"Huh?" I asked stopping and wiping my brow.

"Come here and take this thing off my hands." She held up a transponder snail which was the thing she was referring to.

I looked at Marco to make sure that it was ok since we were in the middle of something.

He nodded with this 'I'm not stopping you' look.

I smiled at him and jogged over to Cole. Once within arms distance she held out the snail and quickly handed over the snail. "Uh hello?" I asked unsure of exactly who this could be.

"Howdy!" A familiar voice greeted my ears.

A large smile spread across my lips as I accidentally screeched, "ACE!"

"Phoenix let's give them some privacy." Cole said jerking her head towards the hall.

Marco just shrugged and as he walked past me he said, "We'll resume this when you're done if you want to." And with that he walked out and the door was closed, leaving me alone in the training room with a snail and Ace's laughter.

"I'm glad to hear you too." He managed as he collected himself on the other end. I could just see him smiling.

"Yeah me too." I just wish that more than his voice was with me. "I miss you." I couldn't stop the words before they stealthily slipped out.

"I know. Don't worry. I think I'm really close."

"Yeah?"

"Yup and then I'll be back and I'll tell you all about it."

"I look forwards to it." Really I did. I could just see the wild hand gestures, sleep attack interruptions and his wild stories filling my head. I could almost hear him telling me how he had taken care of the traitor and say that since he had done that Thatch could rest in peace now.

"Good. So I um . . . you see I wanted to tell you that . . . when I see Luffy and his crew I'll call you up so you can say hi."

I gasped, now jealous that I hadn't gone with him. "You're going to see Luffy?"

"Yeah if he gets here on time." He said with a laugh. "Do you think ten days is enough time for him?"

"No."

"Yeah me neither. But I'm hoping that he makes it."

"Me too. I definitely look forwards to that too."

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you. I mean the last time he saw you hadn't- you were the shy artistic introvert who couldn't even say a sentence without stuttering." There was a little chuckle from Ace as if to trying to make sure that I didn't think that he was trying to offend me with the truth.

"Yeah and look at me now. You know you stole his artist. He might be mad at him."

"That's true. But don't worry I won't give you up without a fight and he can't take me. I don't even know if he knows that I have eaten the Mera Mera fruit."

"What?" How could he not know? Ace was known as Fire Fist after all. But then again we were talking about Luffy. He wasn't very knowledgeable about many things.

"Well I left our home island before I ate the fruit." He said in an understanding voice. "So um the real reason I decided to call is that I was bored and didn't know what else to do."

"Oh really?" I asked. From the tone of his voice he had something on his mind.

"No." A frustrated growl reached my ears. "Not at all."

"Oh then why did you-"

"Look I don't really know why this is so hard for me to say but-"

"Just say it." I suggested realizing how much Luffy I must have sounded like.

"Easier said than done alright." He grumbled at me with a heavy sigh following his words. "I mean I know what I want to say but-"

"Ace." I interrupted him.

"Yeah?"

"You've wrestled sea kings, dine and dash on a regular basis, we raid ships for fun and play pranks on the crew members of the strongest pirate crew on the Grand line and in the New World, you fight marines like a child eats candy and you're having trouble saying something?" Of course. It was all the big things he didn't have a problem doing but when it came to something small he had troubles doing it.

Why did this come to me as a surprise?

He laughed. "True. Alright then here it goes." There was a pause and then the words, "I'm sorry."

"E-excuse me?" I hadn't been daydreaming right? I wondered if I had indeed heard him correctly or if I had imagined his words.

"You head me. Don't make me say it again."

"I-I'm sorry. But I- did I-"

"Yes."

"For what?" Was he sorry for not taking me with him? Or was he sorry for something else?

"What I said." Ace paused and when I said nothing elaborated for my sake . . . I think. "Before I left. I didn't really . . . . . I was just-you were in my way and I wasn't, not that I do so much anyways, thinking .It's just that you were in my way and I was pissed to say the least. You're a pretty good pirate you know that?"

"Uh thanks?" Oh now I get why it was so hard for him to get to the point. Pride, a deadly sin, had been getting in his way. That or embarrassment or something along that line.

Ace let out a breath and with a grin in his voice said, "Whew, glad I got that off my chest. It was bothering me."

"Wanna know something Ace?" I said with a smile that he couldn't see. I knew he did and he instantly said so. "When you get back I'm going to challenge you to a fight and then you'll see that I'm not playing."

"I look forwards to it." He said.

There were now several reasons that were contributing to my impatience for his return. I looked forwards to it so much. I couldn't wait to see his freckled face, his half clothed body and his silly grins.

"I lo-"

"I gotta go. But be prepared to get a call from me again soon. I'll even let you talk to him a bit, say hi to the crew. Bye." He said before the line went dead.

I threw my head back with my eyes squeezed shut before letting out a groan of disappointment. I had been so close. I just had the last two letters of the first word and one more word to say. Letting out a heavy sigh I stood up and walked to the closed door. When I opened it in fell Cole and Marco was leaning against the opposite wall with one foot against the wall and his arms crossed.

"Have a nice chat?" Marco asked pushing away from the wall.

"Yeah." I smiled a bit and handed the snail back to Cole. "He'll be calling back within the next week or so."

"Really now?"

"Yeah." I nodded and with that Marco and I walked back into the training room and resumed fighting. Only this time there was more conversation, mostly about what Ace and I had talked about and other things that didn't really have anything to do with what we were doing.

-Ace-

I was enjoying myself at a bar, not making any trouble when some marine named Smoker walked in. I wasn't interested in fighting anyone at the moment.

Well one moment we're talking and the next he's flying towards me as though someone slammed into him and then into me. I watched and by time I realized that he was going to fly into me too it was too late for me to move. We slammed through several walls before coming to a stop under some rubble.

I began walking back through the tunnel of holes in the wall back to the bar where we had started from. Once standing a besides the bartender I saw Luffy there shoveling food into his mouth, stuffing his cheeks so that he looked like a chipmunk or something of the sorts.

I grinned and was about to step forwards when something landed on my head and slammed me face first into the ground. And by time I got up all I saw was Smokers retreating back. So I followed them out, following smoker who was following Luffy.

God my little brother was such an idiot. He was running from a hoard of Marines and he leads them straight to a small group of people who I was just going to assume were his crew.

After the Marine launched a smoky attack at Luffy that's when I stepped in. let me just say that guy was not happy to see me again.

Unfortunately though my intervention stopped Luffy and the people who I was calling his crew in their tracks. I smiled a fight between fire and smoke was pointless really and we both knew it, even before I verbalized it.

When he realized it was me I turned around and offered him a grin. "You never change Luffy." I told him. I doubted that he'd ever change to be honest. Turns out he also didn't know that I had eaten a devil fruit either, which is something you'd think he'd know by now. As we conversed Marines lined up in front of me and were awaiting orders from Smoker.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway we can't talk like this." I'm sure they realized, even with Luffy not being the brightest of people. The others looked as though they might have some common sense. "I'll catch up later." I told him. It probably wouldn't take too long. "You guys make a run for it." I turned my attention back to the marines before me. "Go!" I shouted at him. Jeez did I have to tell him when to go? Several pairs of running footsteps faded into the distance behind me.

The marine sure liked talking. I wish Willow or Marco could have seen the look on his face when I told him that Luffy was my brother. It was near priceless. But I was starting to wonder if we were just going to talk or if we were going to prove that a fight between us was really pointless.

"Move! Portgaz D Ace." He grumbled at me, as if he thought those words were enough to make me move aside.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I don't think so." After those words I lit myself on fire. It was funny how scared the lower marines were of a bit of fire. Of course Smoker wasn't affected at all, which was good. It would have been a shame if a bit of fire had scared him off. I stood there grinning and waiting for him to attack and eventually he did. He sent a column of smoke my direction. His smoke and my flame mixed and were sent skywards, twisting together and dissipating.

But he just didn't know when to give up. Nothing was going to happen if we fought with fire and smoke. But oh well I was buying time for Luffy so I was having a bit of fun myself.

The mixing smoke and fire created black smoke that was more or less my chance to escape. So I did.

Now to find Luffy.

Turns out he wasn't too hard to find. He wasn't too well hidden or anything. While he looked for his ship in the water the marines found us. I frowned. They really didn't know when to quit. He wasn't even paying attention to the marines, which would be bad for him if I weren't here and forget listening to me.

As I caught up to him and his ship I pulled out the transponder snail and called up Willow. We weren't going to have much time to say 'hi' so I wanted her to be ready at the very least.

"Hello?" Cole picked it up again.

"Get Willow."

"Love you too Fire Fist." She grumbled in a teasing tone.

I heard her move around, a door open and close and a few other things before a breathless, "Ace?" Whispered in my ear.

"Hold on just a minute ok?" I kindly requested of her.

"Ok?"

"But if I fought him now, I'd win!" I head Luffy say as I reached his ship. It was small compared to the Moby Dick but then again most were. I was rather impressed that Luffy had a crew and a ship. That's a lot of responsibility for that kid.

"That's a groundless statement." I said jumping onto the side of his ship and perching there.

"Oh Ace these is the nakama I was telling you about." He said.

I greeted them and politely declined an invitation inside. I was happy for Luffy and was very glad that he had found a good lot of people to take care of him and for him to occasionally take care of. But then again he was very charismatic and charming when it came to other people.

"Oh hey before I forget." I fished around in my pocket for the transponder snail I had shoved back onto my pocket. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Whaaat who?!" Luffy asked looking around as if he expected someone to pop up out of either nowhere or a cloud of smoke on his ship or next to me.

"Just say hello." I said pulling it out of my pocket and handing him the thing.

"Yello?" he asked into the receiver then shouted, "Who the heck is this?!" There was no doubt that Willow stammered out an answer on the other end from her place hopefully safely on the deck of the Moby Dick. Luffy's eyes suddenly lit up and his face cracked into a huge grin. He laughed and looked at his crew saying, "She says to tell you all hello."

"Who?" everybody asked looking confused.

"Artist-chan!" he exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, Willow?" The orange haired girl asked her attention caught.

"That shy girl from that one island?" The green haired swordsman asked as the blonde whose cigarette I had lit began dancing around with hearts in his eyes muttering something about her beauty and the way she had looked under the lights of the forest.

"Who?" Both the . . . reindeer? . . . and the blue haired princess asked.

"Yeah. We're all doing great aren't we guys!" He grinned, answering Willows question as though everything was fine and dandy. Which according to the ships that were now facing us we weren't. He didn't bother to explain who he was talking to, to tell the people who obviously didn't know who Willow was. "Don't forget that when I'm pirate king that I'm coming back for my artist, which is you by the way. So sit tight just a bit longer ok?" He said as though he thought Willow was still on the little island he had found her, as though she were still living in that cute little cottage in the middle of that awesome forest that glowed.

"Oh you are? Well that changes noting alright." He then told her completely oblivious to the things his crew were saying. "Bye." He said hanging up and popping back into the conversation at just the right moment. "See? Don't they just crack you up?" He asked. I resisted the urge to hang my head. Of course. But then again this was Luffy for you. "Here ya go." Luffy said handing the snail back to me.

I nodded and said, "Thanks." As I shoved it back into my pocket.

"Them again?" He asked with a frown.

"Luffy." I said getting his attention. Once I got it I told him that I'd take care of them. It's the least I could do. Plus well I wanted to. So without waiting for him to agree or argue with me I jumped down into my boat and sped off, well aware of what they must be thinking. I couldn't really hear exactly what they were shouting at me as I sped towards them but what did it really matter? They were probably threatening me and thinking that I was going to be the victim and then Luffy.

This was not only going to be fun but easy, a piece of cake really.

Even when I jumped over their ships they were yelling things at me. Stupid them. On the other side of their fleet I landed on my boat and sent a large fire fist their way, burning through and destroying all of their ships and the people on them.

Pushing up the brim of my hat I smiled. Not too shabby.

-Willow-

After the first call from Ace and then the very short conversation with Luffy where I didn't get t chance to tell him that I was a part of Whitebeards crew or that I was no longer just sitting tight on my island waiting for rather thick headed pirates to come back for me in god only knew how long, I got many more updates from Ace. He told me to tell Pops and the rest of the crew what he was relaying to me and that he was getting closer and closer to Blackbeard and to coming home.

I was training hard with Cole who was having fun playing with me because today she was armed with tattoos galore that she kept pulling off of her body and slapping them back on. She alternated between hoards of spiders, blades the length of her arm, a pair of black brass knuckles and a chain whip. She pulled these various weapons from various parts of her body. Her bare legs, the arms, knuckles and even her torso.

"You're doin' a lot better lately girlie. You should feel proud of yourself." Cole grinned at me. We were in the middle of a breather. Both of us were covered in sweat with rapidly moving chests. We were both sprawled out on the mats of the training room.

There we were in all of our messy sweaty glory when Vista walked in. He seemed unfazed by the sight of the two of us in our current state. In his hand was a transponder snail. Upon seeing it I sat up and asked in a voice that sounded far too hopeful to even my own ears, "Is it Ace?"

He nodded and handed it to be before saying something that I didn't get the chance to catch because I was already talking to Ace. "Please tell me you're coming back soon." I begged. God I wanted to show him how much stronger I had gotten. I wanted to hear the stories that he had promised me. I wanted to wrap him in a hug and steal his hat. I wanted to see his face as he talked to me. I wanted to party hard upon his arrival. But he had to defeat Teach first and foremost.

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A/N: All I have to say is that I have plans for these characters. But that's all I'll reveal. I hope you liked this really long chapter.

:D

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: WARNING things get worse before they get better. I'm also sorry that the chapters haven't been coming out at their usual pace. Um I don't know if anyone really cares English attacks over the Japanese ones but I went with the English translations from the anime. I hope no one really minds.

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"Yes very soon Willow. I'm about a day away from the island he hasn't yet left. His ship is in view and I'm hoping to catch him before he leaves."

"Oh that's great!" I shouted excitedly. My heart was racing and I was just about out of breath but not because of the training that me and Cole were taking a break from.

"What?!" Cole asked sitting up and expectantly looking at me. I held up one finger to signify that I'd let her in a minute, when I was done talking to Ace.

"It's better than great. It's fantastic!" Ace shouted. I could all but see the grin on his stupid face.

"Good luck." I smiled. I was so happy for him. He was so close to extracting revenge for having killed Thatch. Thatch was so close to being avenged and Ace was just as close to coming back and I couldn't wait.

"I'll be back as soon as I can alright?" He said.

I nodded but realized that he couldn't hear me nod my head. "Y-Yeah. I'll be waiting." What else could I do? I was stuck on the Moby Dick. And I might not be waiting for Luffy on an island in the middle of a forest anymore, but I sure as hell was waiting for his brother on a ship in the middle of the ocean. And that wasn't going to change any time soon. I was going to keep training with the crew and I was going to keep waiting for him to get his ass back here.

"Not for long you won't be."

"I lov-" I tried for the millionth time only to be interrupted for the millionth time. I really just wanted to say those three words to him. Just once. I mean Cole had been rooting for me to confess and so here I was trying to and I could never get the three words out in one uninterrupted sentence. And it sucked really badly.

"I gotta go. Bye!" And all too suddenly the line went dead before I could protest.

I stared at the receiver and finished my sentence, "you." For the trillionth time I was unable to fully say those three words together to him. It's not that I had a bad feeling about him fighting Teach but what if? Those words haunted my thoughts and dreams. What if? Those words terrified me even though I had confidence in him and his abilities. He was going to be fine and after a fight with Teach he was going to come back, he was going to see how I had grown and we'd have a celebration of not only his success and his return but also of Thatch's death, we would celebrate his life and the fact that he would be able to rest in peace now.

"So what's up with Fire Fist? You have to tell me girlie." Cole demanded pulling me out of my thoughts. I shrugged and told her.

When I was done telling her she nodded and stood and with that we resumed my training.

The sight of a ship pulling up besides the Moby Dick had distracted me and like a vacuum I had been sucked into my thoughts out away from my original reason for having come up here.

"Hey get below deck or something." Marco called to me jerking me out of my thoughts. He was warning everyone about Shanks.

"What why?" I had come out onto the deck for a bit of fresh air and to ask Marco if he would help me with training with my crescent blades. I hadn't been prepared to see a ship pulling up next to ours. I hadn't expected to hear murmurs about what the Red haired Shanks was doing here.

"His haki is quite powerful. Nothing you could safely handle." He explained glancing over towards the other ship then back at me. He had warned plenty of other people so I wasn't really offended by the fact that he didn't think that I wasn't strong enough to handle whatever haki was.

Usually I would have listened instantly. I would have just gone beneath the deck and back to the training room to work on getting stronger, but I wanted to see who Shanks was. He was after all the man who had inspired Luffy to become a pirate, the man who had given him his precious straw hat and had in a roundabout way been the reason behind Ace's manners. He was one of the four Emperors so naturally I was curious. But then again I should probably heed Marco's warning.

"Would the crow's-nest be ok?" I asked him. If not I'd take the chance and stay on the deck. I didn't know what haki was so I didn't really know how it would affect me if I was exposed to it.

He looked up, examined it for a moment and said, "That's questionable. But if I were you I'd get out of range."

"Haki won't kill me will it?" I had heard of haki but that was all.

"He's not here to kill anyone. He had some business with Pops that's all."

"Oh. Alright." That didn't really ask my question. Maybe I should have worded it better.

"If you're going up there hurry up. He's about to board." Marco said lightly propelling me towards the mast with a firm shove. I scrambled up the ropes and clumsily fell into the nest. I peeked over the edge, only to the point in which I could watch the red haired man walk up to Pops and offer him a large round container of something that was probably sake. Some of the crew members had collapsed and I wondered why no one was doing anything about them. I also wondered if they were dead or not. But my attention was turned back to the red haired man and Pops.

The man sat, was poured a drink from one of Pops glasses, the size of a something that the man could have swam in had he wished to, and they talked but about something that I couldn't quite make out.

Things seemed to be going well Pops was smiling quite a bit as was Shanks. All I know was that judging by their facial expressions and the fact that Ace's name had been the conversation was going downhill and fast.

I certainly hadn't seen it coming so I don't know how the red haired guy had but Pops had thrown the now empty round bottle that had been offered to him as a gift at him and he had dodged without even getting to his feet. He didn't lose his cool, just got to his feet and drew his sword. Unfortunately from my vantage point up here in the crow's-nest I believe that I had missed a big piece of their disagreement.

Wide eyed I wondered if he were challenging Pops. I didn't doubt the guy's abilities against anyone else but this was Pops he was provoking. Compared to the old man he was a shrimp! But Pops rose to his feet after detaching the oxygen and IVs he was hooked up to and picked up his weapon. I'm sure there's a name for it but I didn't know what it was. Below me the crew looked up at the sky as did I. I saw that the grey clouds had been split.

-Ace-

I perched waiting on the roof of a building that lined the street out of town. I was sure to meet him if I waited long enough for him to come. I had been searching for him for a while and I wanted to get back to the crew and most importantly Willow.

I knew that she was trying to say three words, three words that I knew she had probably thought long and hard about, trying to make sure that they were the right words. I didn't want her to say them through the transponder snail, I didn't want to hear those words until I was back on the Moby Dick because if I allowed her to say them now it'd feel like it she were expecting the worse to come when I managed to face Teach. And it wasn't.

I was going to make it out alive; I was going to go back to the crew and the Moby Dick. We were going to have a big dinner and we were going to celebrate my success and mourn Thatch's death. Then I'd see how strong Willow had gotten since I'd left and as I had promised I'd tell her all about my travels. And everything would go back to the way it had been, or something close to it.

This was going to be easy and I wasn't going to kick the bucket, not here, not now.

Finally though Teach, three men and an animal walked past, talking about their plans to leave the island.

"Oi." I called out to the traitor. I was still pissed but it was controllable now. "Wait a minute Teach. I've been looking for you." At that he stopped and turned around to face me.

For a moment he stood there looking up at me, as did the other two men, but then he smiled and had the nerve to call me commander as he took a few steps closer to the building I was sitting on.

"Knock it off! Commander is a word only those respectful of that person are allowed to say. Stop mocking."

Someone noted that I was Fire Fist Ace and I nodded and verified that indeed I was with a polite nice to meet you that I couldn't have stopped even if I had wanted to.

"It seems you've become quite a captain, right? Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Marshal D. Teach."

He stood there and laughed. "What's wrong Ace? It's been a long time. What's the matter? How did you know I was here?" He asked several different questions. I wondered if this was his way of stalling the inevitable.

Lots of things were the matter. But the thing that was the most wrong was that he was still alive. But that was soon to be taken care of. "Teach stop asking useless questions." Who cared how I knew that he was here. "You took a man's life. You must have a comprehension of the situation." If he didn't yet he would in not a few minutes. "Isn't that right?"

He stood there with a smile with several gaping holes in it, that looked forced on his face. He stood there looking up at me in his captain's coat doing nothing. "Yeah I know. Then let me say just one thing."

I thought something intelligent was about to come from his mouth, or that he'd decide to attack first. But he didn't, Teach just opened his arms wide and asked, "Ace, will you become my nakama?"

As if.

I just sat there staring at him. And the crew harassed me for saying and doing some rather stupid things. And I'll admit that I've done quite a number of stupid things that I probably shouldn't have done. But never have I asked a man after my life to become my nakama, nor would I ever do so.

"Rule the world with me!" Teach shouted up at me as though the idea might sound the least bit appealing. "I've already planned every single thing!" He boasted proudly.

The only person I was ever going to rule with was Pops and the crew. And it wasn't as though Pops even really wanted to rule anything. He didn't want to be the Pirate King; he just wanted to extend a hand for those who needed a family.

I bit back any bit of a smile, any sound of laughter or a chuckle. The so called plans that he had made were going to be ruined. But I sat there and decided to hear him out.

Why?

Well because the shit coming from his mouth at the moment was rather amusing. I'm sure he knew what was coming and was probably just buying time. But the more he spoke the more ridiculous things came from his mouth.

"Whitebeards time is over already! It is I who will become Pirate King." If I had to put my money on anyone I'd put it on Luffy before I put it on him. But I sat there quietly. "First I'll go to Water Seven from here to kill Strawhat Luffy and hand him over to the government."

And how Luffy was in his plans? He wasn't going to lay a finger on Luffy. His plan was going to stop and end here. "Luffy? What did you say?" I asked even though I had heard him perfectly fine. I mean I was hoping that he hadn't said what he did but I know that he had said something about killing Luffy and handing him over to the government, which was only going to happen over my dead body. Teach was simply digging himself deeper and deeper into the ass load of shit he was already over his head in.

Teach lowered his arms. "You know him?" he was obviously surprised and maybe he was regretting having said that or maybe he was hoping that Luffy and I were enemies so that would atone for what he had just said.

"I won't let you lay a finger on him. He's my little brother!" I threw out there. To say the least the surprise on his face was priceless. To my satisfaction he was even sweating just a bit. "And of course I'm not gonna be your. . ." before I could finish my sentence two shots were fired. They flew straight through my body like the one Willow had accidentally shot me with. One flew through my head, right between my eyes. And the other was in the middle of my chest. "Nakama." I finished my sentence.

Teach tore his attention off of me and looked at the subordinate who decided that they'd shoot me. I hadn't even made a move.

But I laughed it off. That ball had started rolling and for them it was a downward spiral from here. "It seems like we have a guy without manners here." With that I pushed myself to my feet and the moment I did he took off running. I fired balls of fire at the guy from the tips of my fingers as though I had a gun. I was having great fun now, how that the action had started. All that talking had been getting tiring.

While my back was turned someone had thought it a good idea to throw a fully intact hotel at me. It was a good thing this town was like a ghost town. If it wasn't I might have felt bad for the people inside. I really hoped there was no one hiding inside because my fire tore right through the wooden building, rendering it useless as flaming boards fell to the ground. I stood there unharmed and smiling.

Teach turned to his men and told them to stay out of our fight, that they were no match for me. But while he was yelling at them I sent a fire fist straight at them. It sent them through several buildings before they landed; only Teach was on fire, rolling around on his back like an insect that couldn't get to its feet. His men rushed towards him. And as they did so I jumped off the roof of the building I had been perching on and began heading their way, through the building that my fire had sliced in half.

He finally made it to his feet but was laughing. "I understand Ace. You want to kill me, right?"

I stopped atop a pile of wood from the building I was standing between. "That's right. The murder of a nakama is a big crime." I told him as though he didn't already know this.

"It's true I killed the 4th Division Commander Thatch! I had no choice!"

Was he serious?

And here I thought we were done with talking and had moved on to fighting. Sigh, looks as though I had been wrong.

"He had the Devil fruit I wanted. The ship's rule that the guy who finds it has to eat it." He didn't have to eat it if he didn't want to. He could have handed it off to someone else. I thought to myself but Teach wasn't done talking. He went on and one about how he had memorized every Devil fruit shape so that's how he knew that Thatch had found the one he had wanted. But he didn't shut up there, he continued going on about why he stayed on Pops ship. It wasn't because he needed a family or had hit rock bottom. It wasn't because they had no place else to go or any reason other than the chances of him running into a certain devil fruit were higher with Pops. Not only did he keep rambling about things but he then had the nerve to still call Thatch his friend.

"And after killing Thatch you stole it." I concluded for him. I wasn't in the mood to stand here and listen to him talk. I came here to kill him and be on my way. Could we not get the show on the road?

"Well it was just the spur of the moment. This ability has chosen me Ace!" He loudly exclaimed.

Devil fruits didn't choose who their consumers were. If he had not killed Thatch and he had eaten it Teaches 'chosen ability' would have been his.

He began laughing and talking some more. "With this, I have become the strongest man, Ace!" He then held out his hand with rings on each finger and said, "Look." So I did. "Even among logia it's unique!" Wisps of darkness covered his hand and were spearing around him before the darkness was shot as a column into the sky. "Ace, your body is fire right?" This was a fact he knew well so maybe the question was rhetorical or something. The darkness was climbing up into the sky, surrounding him. I guess this was his power. "I am darkness!" He shouted.

"Darkness?" I asked.

"That's right Commander Ace. I can't get killed by you." He continued to say something about his fruit being the most evil of all recorded Devil fruits. The logia type, Yami Yami fruit. He said that I was going to get a taste of its power. And I just smirked. There was nothing I wanted more than to get a taste of his power and to kill him.

"Do as you like."

And with that the darkness began crawling along the ground, like black water. I just stood there and watched.

Unfortunately he began going on and on about his devil fruit and what it was, that it was gravity, the ability to suck things in.

"Even so it seems it's not reaching me." Seriously when were things going to pick up? When was the pace going to go a bit faster? I was almost starting to get bored.

"I'm not going after you yet. Just stand there and look at the town." So instead of fighting he was going to show off his Devil fruit ability? With those words he slammed his hand into the ground and shouted the words 'black hole'.

The ground began trembling and the town began to slowly sink into the ground, it began caging in on itself. Buildings toppled, roofs caved in, windows shattered and wood splintered as it all came falling down and the darkness was swallowing it all up. When it receded like the tide all that was left were the foundations of the buildings. The darkness rushed back to him and the only thing that marred the now flat and barren landscape was the pile of wood that I had decided to stop advancing on.

The darkness manifested into a column once again and from this column bits and chunks of the town were being spewed from it.

The landscape hadn't even been cleared for a minute and when the dust settled the town was in shambles around us, it was nothing but rubble and flammable wood.

Teach began laughing and asked if I got it now. Did he think that that demonstration had scared me? Did he think that it would? Well before he could ramble on any more I put my hands out in front of me and sent small orbs of light towards him. Their appearance cut him off mid-sentence and seemed to confuse him for a second there.

"Firefly Fire." I said the name of the attack. Then added, "Blazing Doll." And with the last word the orbs of firefly like fire exploded, leaving the damn traitor rolling around on his back like an insect for a second time today. "I understand pretty well the greatness of the power of darkness." I briefly wondered if he could hear me over the cackling of the fire that was burning him and his own screams or not. But either way I continued on with a smirk. "If you're a logia type you should be able to dodge an attack such as this."

Just as I finished saying that the darkness wrapped around the blazing fire on his body and put it out. I frowned as he rolled over to his stomach then proceeded to get to his knees. "I already told you, darkness drags in everything. Bullets, blades, strikes, fire and even lightening. I can't dodge attacks like the rest of you do. My body absorbs much more pain than a normal human."

I wondered why he was telling me this but fortunately I didn't have to wait long for him to tell me. Just long enough for him to stand to his feet and start moving his mouth once again. "But in exchange for that risk there's one more thing I'm capable of absorbing! Dark Whirlpool!" He shouted lifting his hand. It was covered in darkness and after he shouted the word that darkness began reaching for me. As it did teach began talking again.

"The gravity of darkness can accurately absorb the 'entity' of the Devil fruit users!" When he finished the last word something began trying to pull me forwards. Yikes! I dug my heels in and pulled back to stop from being pulled forwards. And even though I managed to resist it my hat ended up flying off and landing at the base of the pile of wood I was standing on. "Also my body can . . ." As he said that I was pulled towards him only to be stopped by his large hand grabbing ahold of my shoulder.

I wasn't worried not until nothing was happening. Where was my fire?

"How is it?" He asked. Teach was smiling so broadly, as though he thought he had won already. But I came here to kill him and that's what I was going to do. I'd just have to figure out a way to do that without coming in contact with him or his darkness. I wondered if he actually wanted an answer or not. "Have you figured it out yet Ace?"

I managed to get in two words as I watched him pull back his fist. I saw it coming and there wasn't a thing I could do. My fire wasn't 'working'! His fist slammed into my solar plexus. When it did he let go of my shoulder. His punch sent me flying, right into the rubble the town had become. I slid off the wood and onto the ground. Damn that hurt!

"It's been a while since someone has actually hit you right?"

I sure as hell hope that was rhetorical. Of course I hadn't been physically hit since I had eaten my devil fruit. And he knew this.

"You understood the moment I grabbed you."

As he continued talking my now ringing ears off, I reached up to my mouth a felt the liquid that was on either side of my mouth. I wasn't surprised to see blood when I examined my fingers. Yet at the same time I was.

"The other thing my darkness can absorb is the Devil fruit powers!"

No shit. I had figured that one out the hard way. I thought as I got to my feet. When I did I almost fell back but managed to regain my footing. "In other words, by being touched, those with abilities of Devil fruits are unable to use their ability for that time!" I voiced what I had gotten from all of his talking and that one punch.

"Logia, Zoan, Paramecia, all those overconfident Devil fruit users in the world, I've obtained the ability to expose their weakness!" He said this all with a large smile. He was obviously enjoying this.

Using my thumb I wiped the blood off one of the corners of my mouth and said, "So it's fine if I don't get caught." That's all I had to do, try not to get caught by him again.

"I just proved to you that you can't get away from the gravity of darkness. Dark Whirlpool!"

He shouted the same attack, the attack that had pulled me into him. Unlike last time I was prepared for the suction. I was prepared and ready to counter. I wouldn't get caught in his grasp like I had last time. When I was close enough I shouted my attack and flung two javelin like rods of fire at him. They lodged themselves in his body. But despite having been prepared I still couldn't get out of the way fast enough and as a result his fist and wrist slammed into my neck. Like before Teach sent me slamming into the remnants of some building.

I watched him curse and wreathe. He almost broke my neck! I mean I get this is a to the death fight. But still. I rubbed at my neck with a frown.

As his darkness swirled around him to put out my fire I put my two index fingers together to form a cross and shouted, "Crossfire!" Instead of moving he stood there smiling as the cross of fire headed right for him.

Teach was breathing heavily but was still standing. I on the other hand was on my hands and knees. I knew I needed to get up before he attacked first. But I had to find the energy to do so. Then I had to summon it up. This was getting tiring, almost as tiring as all of his talking.

But despite my annoyance he continued ranting and raving about how great his darkness was. According to him that also included my strength. And even though I was for the most part ignoring his speeches I heard what came next loud and clear. "However, it would be a shame to waste that power. Ace!" he exclaimed. As I began struggling to get to my feet. It was dangerous to be on your hands and knees before an enemy you were aiming to kill. But now killing him wasn't my only goal. "Be my nakama!"

As if. I thought as I pushed myself to my knees. Eventually I'd get to my feet. What the hell was Teach thinking? What a stupid offer it was to make to the man who was trying to kill you. I get that I wasn't doing too hot but I'd survive and kill him. But either way having a bit of a harder time than I imagined or not, I wasn't going to become his nakama.

Ever.

I couldn't stop from chuckling a bit as I looked at him. "If I surrender my power to you, then there was no point in me being a man. I definitely won't live with regrets. Got that idiot?"

"It's a shame Ace. Die by my darkness!" Teach shouted as I made it to my feet.

I smiled. I was going to die, eventually but not today. Not here not now and certainly not on this island. I wasn't going to die by a traitors hand and I sure as hell wasn't kicking the bucket until I had kept all of my promises. I still had to make Whitebeard King and tell Willow my stories. I had examples to set for Luffy and I had a division to lead. I'd regret dying if I died here.

"Great Blaze Commandment!" I shouted fire swirling around the ground around me to form a large ball of eager to burn fire.

He shouted something but I didn't bother to listen until he said, "There can be only one winner."

No shit there could only be one winner and it was going to be me. "I'll make Whitebeard the king." I said. And I couldn't do that if I wasn't the winner.

We both lunged at each other shouting until his darkness met my fire.

-Marco-

"Hey phoenix." A voice called before my shoulder was grabbed. "Look at the paper." Before I could look at it it was shoved in my face.

Jerking away I grumbled the words I know.

"Oh? You don't look as though you're worried or anything." Cole said putting her hands on her hips. "You don't look concerned for Mr. Ace at all."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I trust Pops will do what he believes is right. I'm more concerned about Willow seeing this article."

"Cute. But I agree. Got any ideas as how to keep it from her?"

"Do you really need help scheming?" I asked the woman. Seriously there were plenty of ways to keep a single member of the crew from seeing a simple newspaper. The more difficult aspect of keeping Willow oblivious to the news pertaining to Ace was to keep the word from reaching her ears.

"Nope. Not at all commander. However I'll need help spreading the word and keeping papers out of her hands."

"You know we're going to get Ace back right?"

"Of course numbskull. Pops isn't going to sit by as one of his sons gets executed. He'd do it for any of us. But Willow doesn't need to know until we get there. She'll freak out or go into depression or into training overload or something you know."

I nodded. Yeah I knew. I knew of the words she had been trying to tell him, I knew that she was in too deep when it came to her feelings for Ace. I knew that he secretly returned her feelings and I knew that she was eagerly awaiting his return. But instead of him coming back to us we were going to go to him. It was only a matter of time, of getting there and gathering out allies. Pops wasn't a stupid man and therefore he wouldn't rush into things without battle plans of sorts.

We were going to rescue Ace no matter what it takes. The Marines were going to get the fight they were looking for.

"Ok well I'll start spreading the word. I'll go this way and you got that way." Cole turned me around and pushed me the opposite direction in which she was going. She made quick work as did I.

As silly as it was to do all of this work for one member we needed everyone perfectly healthy, without emotions clouding their decisions and we needed level headed people. This was the girl's first battle, her first real fight, the first one that mattered. This was the first battle and to top it off it was for a person she was attached to. There was no way to know how exactly she'd react to the news, there was no way to know exactly how she'd react on the battle field but if she were like her mother it wouldn't be good. I had a feeling that we'd see a side of Willow we had never seen when we got there.

With the help of the crew everything was quiet, Willow carried on like normal. Even though we were preparing for war, preparing to face however many marines we'd have to get through to get to Ace, to save his stupid ass.

I was on my way to my room, to turn in for the night, I was almost there when Willow's door opened and she walked out as if she had been waiting for me. There was an unreadable look on her face and so many crystal clear emotions swirled in her green eyes. A piece of paper was gripped tightly in her hand and she seemed to have trouble lifting her eyes to look me in the eyes.

But when she managed the feat she asked, "What-what i-is this?"

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Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Before you begin to read the chapter I only ask for forgiveness. *bows*

Now before we get to the stuff you've all been waiting for, I got a link for an awesome pic of Willow and Ace drawn for me from akgrownrandi. It's awesome and so I'll thank you again for it. :D So check it out people, my fan art (in the form of writing) has fan art!

I don't really know if anyone cares but I'm going off the anime…of what I can of it. I haven't been able to find any full episodes of the things that I've needed and if I have none of them are ones that have worked on my laptop, and the material that I am using has German (I think) subtitles and I'm not fluent in German That and I'm not too good at scenes straight from the anime/manga…

So anyhow I'll stop talking and let you read. Enjoy.

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Her voice was a scratchy whisper. She didn't look as though she were about to break down, her sad among other things eyes were desperately begging me to tell her the truth.

I sighed heavily and turned away from my room.

"W-why did no one tell me?" She asked in that same broken up whisper.

"To protect you."

"T-to protect me? Do you guys really think that I'm that weak?" The crinkle of paper sounded as she clenched her fists tighter than they had been.

"Of course not. But . . ."

"You're close to him." She argued before I could try and defend the crew, Cole's and my intentions.

"I know." I sighed again running a hand back through my hair. Right we had failed to calculate how she'd react if she figured it out, or read it in a newspaper. "Look we didn't want you to do anything irrational or freak out or something." I explained to her hoping that she'd accept it. Then added, "Make me a promise?"

"What?" Willow wearily asked me. It was obvious that she was upset, that word being an understatement but at least she didn't seem angry or about to go on a rampage, which was a good start.

"I want you to," I didn't quite know what I wanted her to do; I didn't really know how to put it into words without offending her or anything. "I want you to take care of yourself properly alright? Don't excessively train; don't slip into depression or anything like that, please." That was the last thing we needed to have to deal with at the moment. We weren't far from Marineford

"So that's why?" She muttered with hardening eyes and several soft shakes of her head. "The only thing I'm going to do is get Ace back. After all I told him that when he got back he'd have to see how much better I've become and what better chance than this?" Willow offered me a smile with quivering lips. The smile was laced with not so well hidden sadness and fear but spiked with determination.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

We weren't going to let the Marines take Ace, our second division commander, friend and brother away from us. They weren't going to separate the two love birds him and Willow had yet to become. Their plans were going to fail and if they somehow succeeded then we were going to fuck them up as much as possible, they were going to feel the repercussions of having messed with Pops and his family.

Then to make sure that she wasn't just going to brush off my words and go cry in her room for days on end, or train until she passed out from physical exhaustion I added, "You know Ace wouldn't be able to stand it if you didn't take care of yourself. If he knew that it was because of him that your health declined or that you stopped going on he'd never let himself hear the end of it."

Willow nodded her head and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm fine." Fine being code for falling apart, pissed that no one told me, the kind of determined Ace could become if he was set on something. "You were all worrying for nothing."

It was certainly not for nothing. My thoughts screamed but that was as far as they went. She had never been to war, she had never fought for someone, she was inexperienced and the people we were going to face weren't. She was one little girl, rather weak compared to the people we were going to fight. She had never had to watch her family fall by her side or have people fight dirty, resorting to cheap shots Someone was going to have to protect her or she was going to have to stay on the ship, something but we certainly were not worrying about nothing.

-Willow-

Waiting, it was one of the hardest things to do at the moment. I understood that we had to get there, to gather our allies and that we had to prepare but I was restless, oh so restless. If I wasn't trying to occupy myself with some kind of non-taxing activity so that way I'd have energy when we reached Marineford to fight then I was worrying and wondering.

I wished that there was more that I could do but I had been told multiple times by nearly everyone and even whitebeard to sit down, conserve my energy and to stay out of the way while the more experienced crewmembers did their jobs. I was fidgety and jumpy, I was on edge and my heart and my mind, neither would stop racing. One with blood, the other with thought with scenarios about how this would play out, how I wanted things to go.

To say that I was nervous was an understatement, and I was so scared that I was fidgety and couldn't sit still. But all of the seasoned pirates that surrounded me, their presence comforted me, I wasn't going in alone. Hell I would never go there on my own, if we weren't going to get Ace then I don't think I'd be here. There were two other ships with us making a grand total of ships that looked like whales.

It wasn't long before the ship angled itself up, before we broke the surface and when I saw Ace knelt there, beat up and more than likely hurting with his hands behind his back, chained to the platform my hands went to my waist and I jerked, about to spring into action.

I couldn't bear to see him like that and I was going to help get him out of that predicament. There wasn't anything I wouldn't do at this moment. The water, the sea of marines, the admirals, none of it mattered; it wasn't going to stop me, my family or Pops. But a big hand landed on my shoulder and the words, 'Not so fast' were muttered into my ear and when I looked over my shoulders I saw Blamenco standing behind me.

I nodded and stood still slightly before him. I couldn't do anything else but wait for the cue, whatever that was. I also couldn't lose my head- either literally or figuratively- not here, not now.

When Ace saw us I couldn't tell if he were happy to see us or not. He looked stupefied and shocked.

Pops didn't even have to shout as he said, "Wait just a little longer, Ace." The crew was standing on the deck, Whitebeard on the top of the whales head.

This was so surreal. As I thought that I wondered how Ace felt, what he was thinking.

After he shouted something back Pops stabbed his long weapon into the ship and threw his hands up, curled them then thrust them out. Like glass the air around his fists cracked and spider webbed out. The water around Marineford reared up, drawing attention away from us, the noise broke the silence and the stillness that had taken over as Pops had climbed to where he now stood.

The crew around me was calm, with straight stone faces but me; I didn't know where to look. I couldn't keep my eyes on Pops or the marines or the rising water. I had never witnessed Pops . . . awesome power like this, so close, so powerful. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't afraid at that moment. But I was afraid for many reasons, Pops and his power wasn't the only reason.

As the water curled towards us, towards the center of Marineford a figure out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I watched as one of the admirals froze the water, turning it into ice before he tried to attack Pops. I swear I was the only one who gasped, or was showing any emotion at all.

When he fell he froze the water there was well, paving a path, eliminating one of the obstacles that stood between us and Ace. I couldn't help but smile. Once the water was frozen they began firing at us. And it seemed that the shots were the cue because the crew began dispersing, leaping off the ship and meeting the marines head on.

Another hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me before I could wrap my hands around my weapons and take off. And when I looked this time I saw Marco standing there but before I could ask him what he wanted he said, "I want you to stay here."

"But-" I tried to argue with him. How was I supposed to do anything if I were right here on the ship?

"Don't leave the ship."

"But Marco-"

"That's an order." He said giving me a hard look. I backed down only because I knew that he knew better than me. I'd get my chance… I hoped.

I watched as Pops stood at the front of the ship- the stern I believe it might be called? - gripping his weapon fearlessly. Nothing was shaking him at all, from what I could tell at least. He didn't seemed the least bit worried about the slice that Jozu had saved the Moby Dick from, or the Admiral that had appeared out of thin air above him or the attack that Marco saved him via his devil fruit form, which again was a new sight for me.

And to think I lived with these people and played around with them, I ate and laughed and trained with all of them, when it came down to it that was a very scary thought.

"Don't get yourself killed alright girlie?" Cole said from next to me. Just about every inch of her skin had a tattoo on it and she wore as little as possible to give her that much more space for … things. Her tattoos were like her war paint. I had to admit that I was surprised that she wasn't among one of the first people to get off of the ship. When I only offered her a nod as an answer she added, "Don't worry about Fire Fist alright? We'll get him back, you'll see."

And with that she ran towards the edge of the ship, vaulted over and when she reappeared a few feet away from the ship she had already pulled off a ball and chain and was whirling that above her head and hitting Marines with it left and right.

Cannonballs exploded all around us, sending men back, making them lose the ground they had gained. Then out of nowhere this huge green giant comes up from behind… at least I believe he's from nowhere.

I certainly hadn't seen him approaching.

I held my breath watching from the deck as war raged around him, as he got closer and closer to the platform, to Ace. Nothing seemed to faze him as he succeeded in getting the closest to Ace. But a blow from a bubble like paw print from one of the warlords did him in when he was only a hair away from reaching Ace, from freeing him.

The look on his face broke my heart. He looked devastated. And the aura radiating from Pops, oh it was quite frightening. Someone was going to pay for that, for killing one of his sons… at least I think he was part of the family.

An ax wielding guy tried to attack Pops but to no avail. Then screaming of many people sounded from above, it neared us and I looked up to see people falling from the sky, ship and all. Luffy, his ship and the people on it, all dressed in black and white striped prisoner garb miraculously landed in yet to be frozen water and those who fell into the ocean were rescued by Jinbe, a fishman who was an Alai and a warlord.

Suddenly a man with a hook appeared behind Pops, catching my attention and pulling it away from Pops. It seemed that the man was aiming to kill him. But then again who wasn't? Before anything could happen, any damage could be done, a single scratch on Pops could be made, a blur of yellow and red intercepted the blow, knocking the sand man off course. Luffy touched down on the deck then looked around before looking right at me. When his eyes landed on me he smiled as if happy to see me, as if we weren't in the middle of a war zone and raised a hand and waved saying, "Hey Artist-san, what are you doing here? Are you here to help rescue Ace too?!" His eyes widened at the last question.

I nodded, really only answering the last of his questions.

His grin widened at my response and he said, "Me too. Wanna come with me?"

Did Luffy really just ask me if he wanted me to join him in battle to reach Ace? I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and I'm sure Marco wouldn't be too mad at me for disobeying, after all with Luffy by my side I was sure we could make it, that we were sure to rescue Ace.

Again I nodded, any words I might have been able to say stuck in the back of my throat, a smile finding its way onto my face. I walked forwards, and stopped when I reached Luffy's side. "Thanks." I muttered to him. I was going to prove myself here, to prove that I wasn't going to have to be the one who had to be left on the ship because they were so weak. I was weak compared to the pirates that were warring with the marines but I was strong compared to what I sued to be, compared to when Luffy had first found me. This was my chance to show Ace all of the work that I had been doing as of late, during his absence.

He nodded once then looked at me concerned. "Do you know how to handle those things?" Luffy pointed at my hips.

By those things he meant my crescent blades. "Yes sir."

For a moment Luffy looked relieved but then the concerned expression returned and I wondered what it was this time. "Good. And you're going to be able to keep up?"

Again I nodded. I wasn't too confident in that answer but I kept that to myself. There was simply no room for self-doubt, not here, not now.

Then Pops intervened, shifting his eyes to give me a little look but, saying nothing to me. They had their little stare-down, maybe it was a guy thing but we were in the middle of a war, there wasn't time for stare-downs and arguments about who was going to save Ace.

The world was once again still as they spoke to each other. Luffy's reckless declaration of being the King of pirates, a title that Pops really had no interest in, echoed as he shouted it to the world, not caring who heard him, or that he was in the middle of frieken Marineford!

They had another few second stare off and no matter what Pops did- like twirling his weapon around and trying to stare down Luffy- he wasn't impressing or intimidating him in the slightest, which really came as no surprise. Luffy loudly proclaiming that he was going to be the King of pirates, not Pops and that he was going to save Ace by himself, which either meant that he didn't intend on having me help him or that it had slipped his mind as he yelled at the man considered to be the most powerful pirate alive, the closest thing to the pirate king as of now.

He looked at me and then said, "Let's go Willow!"

I nodded and into the battle we charged. Pops nor Marco, despite his previous orders, made even the slightest twitch to stop me, which I was silently grateful for.

Together we faced incineration, rolling purple haired… things, iron fences and zombies which seemed to come from absolutely nowhere! Seriously where had the zombies come from?!

-Ace-

It was agonizing to be chained to the platform watching helplessly as Pops and the crew showed up. Agony was an understatement through and through there were no words that could or would do any justice to the shredding of my insides. Despite being stationary, my heart was pounding painfully, breaking and shattering more and more with each blow, each injury my family took for me. My pounding blood thumped loudly in my ears but I could still hear everything that was going on around me.

Little Oars Jr. only yards away from me and at my side Garp still going on about how I should have been a Marine, how Luffy and I should have become what he wanted to us to become, how he wasn't going to interfere with the war raging around us.

I watched helplessly as Ace and Willow teamed up to reach me, they made a decent team but I still wanted neither of them there. I didn't want either of them hurt or even worse killed. And when I saw a marine's blade slide my stupid little brother I snapped.

I snapped at both of them, telling them how pathetic it was that I had to be saved by my little brother and by a girl who hadn't even been a pirate for more than two years, a full year stretching it. I didn't want to drag them down with me; I didn't want them to perish here. I told them to go home, to get out of here while they still could. I was desperate, trying to save and Willow and Pops and the crew. I wanted him to go home and I shouted at them that it was humiliating to have such weaklings have to come to my rescue. Then to drive my point home I shouted, "I'll never forgive you!"

I would never be able to forgive myself if anything happened to anyone because of me, because I needed to be rescued.

"I'll save you even if it kills me!" Luffy shouted looking up at me as he said this.

I saw Willow nod in agreement before she shouted up at me as well, "Don't worry Ace; we'll get you one way or another!" She even offered a weary smile and went back to fighting. I tried to watch the both of them since they had gotten separated and isolated; they were now fighting by themselves. Ok well Luffy wasn't alone, he had so many people helping and looking out for him, but Willow was and that worried me greatly. I wished that I wasn't so helpless, that I could do something.

I knelt there horrified as I watched Squard impaled Pops. The world froze the fights mid swing, mid punch, kick or swing.

/

/

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A/N: I'm sorry for ending that there….I've got to go.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	25. Chapter 25

My heart, it stopped beating right then and there. My stomach, it dropped. I was helpless, so far out of reach, unable to do a damn thing as I watched another crew member become another traitor.

My breathing was now jagged and I could barely stand to watch the scenes unfolding below me. But at the exact same time I couldn't tear my gaze away.

I hated being up here for more than one reason. I had the prefect view of everything that was going on before me. I had a bird's eye view of the war, of the deaths, of the fights and the struggles, I could see everything, and it was all because of me, of disobeying Pops who was standing there, one of his sons having just stabbed him, having betrayed him for one reason or another. All of the deaths of my friends and family who were all trying to reach me, save me, I could do nothing to give them any aid of any sorts. I could only kneel here cuffed in sea stone and watch.

I wanted them to all go home, to leave. I wanted everyone to be gone, to be safe. I didn't want them racing to their deaths, not for me at least. I didn't want to take anyone else down with me, I didn't want anything to happen to anyone, especially not my brothers, or my sisters, I didn't want to drag Pops down or any of our allies. I wanted everyone to leave, no matter how much it pained me to say. And even though if any one of them were in my current predicament I'd be doing exactly the same thing as them, I decided to accept my fate.

If the blades of justice reached me before Luffy, Willow or any of the men and women down there fighting for me, before a hand could be extended to me, for me to grab, then so be it.

Pops and Squard stood there, exchanging words but I don't know what they said, only that Pops must have understood or forgave him because he hugged him to his chest before racing off to battle. The ball had just started rolling for real now, now that Pops was in the game.

My execution is ordered and I am ready this time, ready to accept my fate. I braced myself for the impact wondering what it's going to feel like. I didn't want to die but maybe if I did then they'd all go home, all of this fighting would be over, they'd all leave and that would be the end of it. I couldn't stand watching Luffy, Willow, Pops and the rest of the crew, even strangers fight for me, for my life and my freedom, it pained me, I felt every slice, punch and death that I witnessed from my not so safe place on the execution platform.

I bowed my head and braced myself, closing my eyes hoping that everyone could forgive me. But when nothing happened I cracked open just one of my eyes to take a peek at why I was still waiting, when I looked I saw that someone had knocked the two guards away, efficiently stopping my execution. I saw that it was Crocodile, some random pirate. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who was surprised; it seemed that everyone else was surprised as well. I was glad I wasn't the only one.

I watched Little Oars Jr. get up, apparently he wasn't dead, which I was extremely thankful for, and I watched as he helped bring most of my family into the plaza, the space that had been closed off by walls before. He didn't last long however and was taken down for a second time, this time by cannons. When he fell for a second time my heart broke even more. I so desperately wanted to do something but I didn't get to dwell too long on that because that's when I noticed that Garp had joined the action and had punched Marco who was on his way towards me.

Suddenly I was whisked back to the past where I was sitting on the shores of my home island with Garp. I remember asking him if I should have even been born. I also remembered his response, his exact words. I remember that he told me that the only way I could find the answer to my question was by living.

Tears welled up in my eyes and streamed down my face, blurring the scene before me. It was horrible that I was happy that everyone cared enough for me to come, to risk their lives for me but it was the truth I had been denying since they arrived, I was happy that they were here.

I managed to hold back a few sobs, but the tears just wouldn't stop and I realized that I really did want to live, that I didn't want to die, that I didn't want to let their sacrifices go to waste.

I wanted desperately to live, to annoy everyone with stories of Luffy. I wanted to fight alongside my friends, my family. I still wanted to avenge Thatch if I could. I wanted to laugh and drink, I wanted to party. I wanted to tell Willow those stories I had promised her, I wanted to see how she had grown. And most of all I wanted to tell her what I hadn't yet had the chance to tell her in person, the words I had been holding back until I got back to her.

With Luffy collapsed and Willow charging ahead on her own, swinging her blades, her feet and her body twisting and contorting around attacks. I admit she had gotten a lot better; it was certainly something that she should be proud of.

It was hard for me to keep my eyes on everybody, on every fight and even though they wondered a bit they were focused on Willow, though I was watching Luffy out of the corner of my eye, I had to make sure he was going to be. He was near a purple haired person and was down for the moment.

Willow was out there by herself. But she was doing ok … ish. She was slowing down and was obviously tiring. I wanted to scream, to tell someone to back her up, someone, anyone! But I didn't, the words went no farther than thought.

Something happened to Luffy and a scream from him drew my attention away from the blue haired girl. As Luffy began advancing once again with the purple haired guy with him my execution was ordered for like the third time or so. Luffy either killed or knocked out a pink haired boy- probably knocked out, knowing him- and continued on only to be attacked by things called Pacifistas. But the female war lord stepped in and they backed down, which I found strange despite everything. Did Luffy have help from the inside? If not what was up with him and the woman?

Marco tried to face Kizaru only to get caught by sea stone cuffs. Jozu got half frozen and seemed to have lost an arm. It wasn't the first time that everyone had been shocked today, you'd think that after everything that had happened today that nothing else would shock them but it seemed that wasn't the cause they seemed to be shocked once again.

Was I shocked? I'd be lying if I didn't say yes.

Was I scared for everyone below me? Hell yes was an understatement to be honest.

Would something else shock us before I died or before I was freed? Probably, in fact I was betting on it.

Sengoku told the Marines to take Pops head but they wouldn't be able to manage the feat even if he wasn't as young as he used to be, even if they had hit him quite a few times. They weren't going to get him; they weren't going to take his head. I couldn't let myself think otherwise.

As they advanced everyone tried to rush towards him but with a few words Pops stopped the pirates, telling them that he didn't need their help, that he was Whitebeard after that he began swinging his weapon around, sending marines flying like figurines. The crew gathered behind him to defend his honor only to be called foolish by Pops himself.

Sengoku berates Pops, which made me grind my teeth. But as he did so the guards raised their weapons, ready to execute me for yet another time. I wish if they were going to do it that they'd get it over with instead of keep raising them then not executing me, then raising them and not executing me for another time. Even though I wanted to live I wish they'd stop messing with me.

Pops said that not even he could stop it as the pirates called out my name. I bowed my head once again. I guess this was it. There was nothing anyone else could do, Pops was too far away, there was too much space, too many marines between Luffy and I and Willow, bless her heart, she couldn't reach me even though she was closer to me than Luffy was. As I bowed my head, with my eyes closed I muttered an apology and a word of thanks. I was grateful for all the blood they had spilled, all the lives they had given to try and free me, but it seemed that despite their efforts it had all been in vain.

I could hear the whoosh of the blades as they were swung up, the pause as they reached their peak and then the whoosh as they changed direction and were brought down. Together they were going to send my head rolling, just like they had my father. Of all the ways I had thought I'd go out, this wasn't the preferred method. I wanted to go out fighting for Pops, fighting to give him the title of the Pirate King. I didn't want to die because I had disobeyed his orders because I had been so over taken by rage that we had a traitor who had been biding his time. But want it or not it was going to happen.

"STOP IT!" I heard Luffy shout, drawing out both words to extreme lengths. And when his scream ended and the patter of his footsteps was the only sound to be heard for just a second I looked up unable to resist the curiosity. When I looked I saw that the guards were unconscious besides me, laying on the platform. Had I not been restrained I would have poked them and then used that to determine exactly how out they were but just looking at them, they were pretty out. Unfortunately it hadn't effected Sengoku, unless you counted shock, then he was really shocked, not that I wasn't but he stood there with his mouth agape.

Within seconds the fights resumed. Marines attacked Pops, the crew, the other pirates, Willow, everyone. Luffy practically had an army running behind him. But unlike Willow he needed it, most of their attention was on him and therefore the help was needed. A path was cleared for Luffy and a ramp was cut out of the street that led straight to me. He had a straight shot; rather he did until Garp got in the way, shouting about how Luffy was his enemy now. Pops stopped an attack from Kizaru and the war lord Boa Hancock fired pink heart arrows at marines turning them to stone as he reached our grandpa.

Thankfully Luffy was able to beat him with a punch that sent him off of the ramp that had crumbled. Despite the falling chunks Luffy managed to make it to the platform just before me. As he ran around to my back it seemed that Sengoku was displeased and used his devil fruit power. He reared his fist back and as it got near Luffy turned towards him and inflated his body like a balloon. Some guy created a shelter around us as not to be crushed by my idiot brother. The force more or less destroyed the platform and sent all of us flying.

As we fell through the air I could hear cannon shots echo one after another. But before anything could reach us the cuffs suddenly released their hold on me. I grinned as they fell off.

I was back in action baby!

I wasted no time grabbing Luffy and telling him how even after all of this time he never changed. Really was he ever going to change? He was still reckless and crazy just like he had always been but who was I to talk?

We hit the ground back to back, my sending out a wave of fire to incinerate everyone who was close. As Luffy and I fought the incoming marines back to back, as we made the perfect team and as we began making our way away from the platform I heard my name being shouted. It wasn't the collective shout of a group of people, of Pops crew, but the shout of a single person. I lifted my head and turned towards that shout with a smile, to show that I was ok, that I was going to be home soon.

-Willow-

There was an explosion and when I looked Pops Jolly Roger was shining through the black smoke, made out of flame that was alive. At that instance my weariness was gone, the aches and pain, the toll of fighting so much, it was all gone replaced but joy at its purest. I watched three figures land on the ground not far from the platform. Through my own fights, through the small chances I was allowed I saw small glimpses of fire and rubber working together as though they were one.

I was absolutely overwhelmed with it. Ace was free! He wasn't going to die; things were going to be ok. All we had to do now was to get out of here. Of course that was probably easier said than done but at the moment I could have done just about anything.

"ACE!" I shouted to grab his attention after I swung an uppercut that cup vertically up the chest of a man and then slashed across the face of another, to let him know that I was trying to make my way over to him, to tell him that I was glad to see him.

Apparently he heard me because as he ran with this stupid smile on his face he looked over at me. I smiled at him. He smiled back but only for a moment before this horrified expression took over his face and he started to veer off towards me. At first I didn't understand it but then I felt it, something, no two something's, sliding into me from behind.

Instantly I looked down to see two crimson blades protruding from my chest, both at different angles. My eyes widened and my breath began hitching. I couldn't do anything but stand there and start to breathe heavily, which was a reaction I couldn't help despite the fact that I could feel every shallow inhale and quick exhale. In disbelief I looked up at Ace as if that would confirm that this was real.

"Willow!" I heard Ace shout as they both changed course simultaneously. He was just a little bit ahead of Luffy. And it was hard to read his face between the panic that I was feeling and the black dots that were clouding my vision.

"Artist-san!" Luffy exclaimed kicking everyone aside who was in his way, everyone Ace hadn't already gotten or toasted.

As cliché as it was time seemed to slow, my life didn't flash before my eyes thankfully but somehow I knew that no one was going to reach me in time. Not Luffy, not anyone else who had happened to witness my downfall, and most certainly not Ace.

Tears welled up in my eyes, not from the numbing pain in my chest. "I'm sorry." I muttered once, the same two words kept flooding out of my mouth. I was sorry that I was stupid enough to turn my back to the enemy, sorry that I was dying before their eyes. I was sorry that I couldn't stop my body from slowing down. But I wasn't sorry that I was here, wasn't sorry that I had been fighting for Ace or had managed to see him smile on last time. There was a list much longer that what I had time to go through of things that I was sorry for.

Those hot tears fell from my eyes, as though floodgates had been opened and they wouldn't be closed. And a hiccup jarred my chest painfully. My lips were quivering and I was trying to be strong by holding back every sob that threatened to rake through my body, every noise that threatened to come out, to let the world know of my pain.

"No you don't!" A voice shouted too loudly before there was a thump and a groan from behind me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered the words, "I love you Ace." I wish I could have told him that myself but it felt good having gotten it out at last.

-Ace-

Luffy kicked a marine who was trying to finish Willow off away from her with a frown on his face. He stood with his back to her, watching for anyone who had the nerve to attack us. Anyone who did wasn't going to live to tell the tale.

Luffy reached her before I did but he was busy fending marines off to notice her lips move, to notice the tears running down her face. I reached for her, to do something, I wasn't exactly sure of what I planned to do when I reached her but before I could do anything she wobbled and then fell, her green eyes half lidded as she began her descent.

I reached her before she could get far and so I caught her, like any gentleman would, like any man would the woman they cared for. As I did so, as she landed in my arms, my heart froze.

Willow wasn't.

She couldn't be.

But I didn't need to check her pulse, I didn't need to look into her vacant eyes, I didn't need to know exactly what places those katanas had hit to know that she was.

"Willow." I whispered her name, unable to utter it any volume higher. "I'm sorry." I hugged her body tightly to my chest. It didn't matter how tightly I held onto her, I didn't have to worry about suffocating her or killing her, not anymore. I loosened my grip and looked at her face; the remnants of a smile lingered on her lips if only a little.

"Is she…" Luffy trailed off, stilling near me. I just nodded. "Oh." He got quiet too.

But unfortunately there was no time to mourn the passing of his artist, of my Willow because the marines took advantage of our sorrow, of our fallen . . . friend and had surrounded us.

"We gotta go." Luffy muttered after saying that even if he got another artist that he wouldn't forget her. He grabbed my upper arm and tugged on it even as bullets flew through various parts of my body.

I nodded, and then quickly lowered my face down to her upturned one for just a few seconds. Tears blurred the image of her face and I quickly blinked them away. Real men didn't cry, not on battlefields and not in front of their little brothers or their enemies.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that not only I should have done this long ago, but I also knew that kissing a corpse was usually considered disgusting and disturbing.

But when my lips met hers they were still warm with life. When they touched I couldn't help but wonder if she could still feel me, if she could still hear me, if she knew what was going on. I wondered if her soul had already slipped from its shell or if she were still in there somewhere. It'd be nice to think that it hadn't, that she knew that even though I hadn't reached her in time that I hadn't been too late to catch her. It would be nice to know that she fully slipped away with the sensation of comfort, with strong arms holding her up and supporting her, that someone had indeed been there for her.

I suppose though it didn't matter at that moment if it were disgusting. Because in a way I was apologizing for having to leave her body here in Marineford where after we left her body would be at the hands and mercy of the Marines who didn't give two shits about any pirates even though she was one of the nicest ones I had ever met. She would be left to the Marines who wouldn't give her or her corpse the proper respect, the respect she deserved.

I didn't exactly drop her but I didn't exactly lay her down softly either, there wasn't time for that, I had to catch up with Luffy who had started running without me. I raced to catch up to him. I swallowed any emotion pertaining to Willow, pushed away any thought about her and said to Luffy, "You've gotten stronger Luffy." It was true. He was a lot stronger since I had last seen him. Which made me happy; I was happy for him and any growth he went through. After all if he wanted to be the king of pirates he couldn't be weak.

"One day I will surpass you Ace." He replied looking over at me as we continued our way through, around and over the marines.

I nodded, it was inevitable. "Until that day let me cover for you." There was nothing I could do to stop Luffy from surpassing me but while he grew, I was going to grow too. I wasn't going to make it easy for him to surpass me, but one day we all knew he would.

And with that I went ahead and countered Aokiji's ice bird with my fire.

A ship, with Squard on its deck began plowing its way into the plaza. Pops stopped it singlehandedly- literally- and said that he was about to deliver his final "Captain order" I was in shock, as well as Luffy and the rest of the crew. He told us to all make it back to the New World, a place Willow hadn't gotten the chance to really discover, which was such a shame, we could have done lots of fun things together.

Pops continued his attack and the marines his attack on him. The crew reluctantly began obeying Pops last order, moving Jozu to the ship and retreating while Pops continued fighting. We had to go, but before we did I had to show my respect for the old man.

I stopped despite the chaos around us and bowed.

"Was I a good father?" I heard his voice ask.

I jerked upright to look at him. "Of course!" He was better than good a million times over. None of us could have asked for a better father!

At my response he laughed.

I nodded and continued on, to join the rest of the crew, who were all nearly ready.

We were all running towards the ship, getting closer and closer to freedom, closer from being away from this place. From behind us one of the admirals began speaking but Kindew told us that he was trying to provoke us. And I knew that, it was obvious that he wanted us to stop.

I had no intention of stopping, of being provoked until I heard the words, "After all Whitebeard is nothing but a loser from a dead era."

At those words I slowed down and stopped, making Luffy stop a bit ahead of me and call out. I stood there for a second running his words through my head knowing that I had heard him correctly. "A loser?!" How dare he call Pops a loser!?

I clenched my fists and turned towards him. "Take back what you just said!" If he didn't he was going to pay.

Just like when I was running after Teach, people tried to stop me; they tried to convince me that keep running, to not bother with the admiral. But just like crew members didn't kill members and get away with it, Marines, or anyone in fact, could insult Pops and get away with it.

"He bad mouthed the old man." I said shrugging them off and facing him, my fists alight.

"Ace!" I heard Luffy shout from behind me. But I ignored him; I couldn't let this slide, not even this once.

"Take it back you say? I have absolutely no intention of doing so. Why would I?"

Because I asked nicely? And if he didn't he was going to cease to exist. That's why.

"Your father, Gold Roger, conquered the entire Grand Line. He gave his life to open the door to a new era, the Great Age of Pirates…" He continued talking, badmouthing Pops and insulting him. All was still; the only sound was him talking and the quiet crackle of the flames dancing dangerously on my body.

As I began walking towards him he didn't stop or shut up. He was as good as a dead man now, admiral or not. "Stop it." I warned.

Even if he stopped now I wasn't going to forgive him, he was going to regret every single word that he was saying, every word he had said and every word he might yet say. He didn't stop talking, saying that Pops played house, saying that he lived an empty existence. But no matter what he said, that wasn't true.

"Cut it out!" I roared. I was going to kill him. No one insulted Pops and got away with it. Whitebeard didn't force us to call him father, old man or Pops. As Marco had once said, it may be just a word but it made us happy, we wanted to call him those things.

"Don't fall for it Ace! Turn back!" I heard a group of people, maybe Izo from somewhere to my side. But like I had Luffy, I ignored them.

"The old man gave a place where we belonged!" I began, still advancing. I could barely contain my rage. And in a few moments I wouldn't have to contain it. "What do you know about the old man's greatness?!"

"If man does not live righteously than he does not deserve to live at all." The admiral before me said. "You rogue pirates don't deserve 'a place to belong'."

Bullshit! I thought. I had a place I belonged, I deserved a place to belong, as did Willow and Marco and Everyone else, even Squard who had betrayed Pops. Who was he to say that we didn't?

"Cut it out!"

"Whitebeard will die a loser, a fitting end for a little fish in a big pond!"

"Whitebeard is the great pirate who created this era!" I shouted back at him. "Don't make fun of the man who saved my life!" the crew around and behind me and Luffy might have said something but I didn't hear them over the crackle of my fire as it roared to life. "The name of this era is Whitebeard!" I exclaimed rearing back, fire fanning out around me.

My fire fist met his magma fist. My hair was whipping around my face and I was seeing red. NO ONE INSULTED POPS AND GOT AWAY WITH IT!

"Whitebeard, and you fools who call him Father, share the same fate as losers!" He turned himself into lava, it dripped down from his hat and when he pushed harder I flew back, clutching my fist. Aww shit that hurt! Had I been burned?

Apparently I had because someone shouted that I had been. So this is what it felt like? I knew it hurt but jeez.

As I pulled my arms up from my sides to stand he began speaking more. Just like Teach, only this was a million times worse.

"You were overconfident because you ate a logia, the mightiest of all devil fruits, right? You are merely fire. I am magma, that which will burn even flames!" He said, as if I hadn't just figured that out the hard way. "There is an enormous gap between your strength and mine."

I gritted my teeth and lifted my shoulders off the ground. To say the least this sucked.

"Ace." I heard Luffy's voice and a few footsteps. But those stopped, had he fallen?

Jinbe, the fishman, said something but I don't quite know what.

The admiral stood above me, one of his arms still lava as he spoke. I listened a bit but what got my attention was the last bit, the part where he brought Luffy into the conversation, where he said that even though he'd let everyone else escape from this accursed place that he wouldn't let neither Luffy nor I go, that we wouldn't escape.

"Now, take a look…" He said.

I looked up, shouting, "Wait!" I scrambled to my feet and as I tried to reach my brother before Akainu did I shouted Luffy's name, hoping to get his attention, hoping that he'd move in time. He wasn't going to take Luffy! Not after they had taken Willow and not after Pops was going as well. I didn't think, just acted, and even if I had the time to think I would have don't the exact same thing.

I got his attention and he looked up just as Akainu's lava fist descended down upon him, just as I slid in between my brother and the incoming danger.

I had made it in time. That much I was grateful for. I watched Luffy's widen, his mouth fall open at the sight before him. The fist of lava had punched straight through my middle and to say that it burned, that was an understatement. But it didn't matter. I had told Luffy that until he could surpass him that I was going to cover for him.

The magma fist retreated, pulling me with it before it pulled out of my body. I fell to my knees, unable to stand only to be caught by Luffy who had both arms around me and his hands pressed to the wound at my back, straight through Pops tattoo.

"I probably wouldn't even have wanted to live . . . if it weren't for that whole deal with Sabo. . . and having an unruly little brother like you." I could hear Luffy's intake of breath. "Oh, right if you ever see Dadan, then give her my regards."

My voice was that of a mere whisper and I was glad that I couldn't see Luffy's face. I don't think I'd be able to stand what emotions it held.

"For some reason, now that I know that I'm gonna die even her name sounds touching to me."

"I keep telling you . . . Don't die!" I could hear the pain in Luffy's voice as he spoke, as he propped me up and held me close.

"I only have one regret." I continued talking. I had to tell him this, I just had to, he had to know. "That I couldn't see you fulfill your dream. But . . ." I took a labored breath. "I'm sure . . . you can make it." Around us I was vaguely aware of the still fighting pirates and marines. "You're my little brother." I told him. And that was why he was going to reach his dream, because he was my brother and I had faith in him, it had always been his dream and even though I wouldn't get the chance to see that dream become a reality I knew that one day it would.

"On that day. . . Just like . . . we promised on that day the way I lived my life, I have . . . no regrets about it." I smiled a bit. I had no regrets about how I had lived out my life, it had led me to plenty of nice places, and it had brought me to Pops and taken me to Willow. I had made friends and found a family. I had belonged somewhere; some people wanted me alive, they were glad that I was alive . . . most of the time.

"It's not true!" Luffy sobbed into my shoulder and the crook of my neck. "Don't lie to me!" The pain in his voice, it was unbearable. It was horrible to be dying in his arms, but I could only imagine what it felt like for him for his brother to be dying before his eyes.

"I'm not lying." I told him. The blood that circled down my arm and fell off the tips of my fingers, made a quiet plop plop plop on the cobblestone ground. "What I truly wanted wasn't fame or anything like that after all." It had never been what I had wanted, even though it had been nice, and quite a lot of fun, maybe even some trouble on occasion.

"Was it . . . good that I was born?" I asked. That's all I ever wanted, was the answer to that single question. "What I wanted was just the answer to that question. "I . . . can't speak loud enough for the others to hear it," I began, my voice getting even quieter than it had been, it took more effort to talk now. As my eyes began watering I continued on, "Please . . . pass on . . . what I'm about to say."

I paused for a second but Luffy said nothing, not that I had expected much of a reply.

"Old man . . . Everyone . . . And you Luffy . . . Even though I'm so worthless . . . Even though . . . I carry the blood of a demon . . . Thank you." My voice rose a bit there and I swallowed hard. I wasn't going to be able to hold myself together for much longer. This was just too much. Tears began falling down my face and even if I wanted to I wouldn't have been able to stop them. ", for loving me."

As I cried on Luffy's shoulder I felt him holding back sobs and I felt his tears slide onto my shoulder. My lips were quivering and I hoped that this was how Willow had died, knowing that someone loved her, that someone had been there for her.

I was happy to die in my brothers arms, yet at the same time not. I was happy to have died protecting him, what more could a big brother have asked for? I regretted having let all of his and the crews, all of Pops and Willow's efforts gone to waste.

-Marco-

We held their funeral on an island in the New World, and despite the event it was a nice day with a light breeze, sunshine and blue skies. Here we stood before three graves with many swords stabbed into the ground behind them. Behind Shanks and I was a crowd of pirates, allies or people who had been part of the crew split in half by the path that Shanks' arrival had created. It didn't really matter who they were because they were all gathered here to mourn the loss of Whitebeard and Ace, most of the crowd didn't know Willow, so not many were here to mourn the loss of her life.

The first and the largest of the three was that of Pops. It had his captain's jacket flapping in the wind on top of his weapon and at the very top our flag was tied.

Beside the grave marked Edward Newgate, there stood the second grave, this one marked Portgaz D Ace. And unlike the purple flowers that covered the top of Pops grave, orange ones adorned his, matching the orange cowboy hat he always wore and, the dagger that was strapped to his pant leg.

And next to Ace's was a grave of the same size with dark blue flowers on its top. It was simple marked Willow; no one knew her last name or her middle so that's how we left it. She and Myra's crescent blades were on display but that was all. There was no hat, no jacket, no glove, nothing else to represent her.

We exchanged a few words and then he decided that it was time to go. I watched him walk down the path that had been created and watched him board his ship before turning back towards the graves.

I slipped my hand into my pocket only to remember that the folded and yellowed piece of paper, the note with the wearing letter and apology for a broken window, that the paper that I usually carried in my pocket had been purposely left in my room, on the top of the dresser so that it wouldn't get stained, ripped or lost. Along with The Moby Dick that letter was gone.

Now, with her daughter and the old note, gone the only things that remained of Myra, the woman I had never really let go, even now, were the two crescent blades that she had passed onto her daughter.

I bowed my head. Myra's child, my captain and father and, one of my best friends were all gone, just like that. What was left of them was displayed proudly before me, before the other pirates.

"Forgive me Myra." I muttered under my breath before turning away from the graves and walking away.

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A/N: It's not the end I promise you…unless you want it to be. I have another chapter because I honestly HATE sad endings (plus I figured you'd all KILL me) … so I kindda fixed that. So stay tuned if you want.

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I hope this chapter eases your hearts a bunch.

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-Ace-

I sat up and instantly did a body check.

What the hell?!

I was in one piece. I wasn't in pain; there were no gaping holes in my body. I stared down at my chest in wonder then looked around. What was going on?!

I had died. I had stopped living, my heart had stopped beating, I had felt my body shutting down as I spoke to Luffy and thanked everyone for having loved me. I remember it all so very clearly, so how the hell was it that I was sitting up in this . . . I looked around trying to get a sense of exactly where it was that I was . . . well I guess I was now in this place of nothingness. The word blank was the only word to describe the space around me. It blank, like one of the pages of Willow's sketchpad, and it stretched on and on, as far as the eye could see all around, every direction, even down and up.

"Hello there dead one." A voice said from above me. And when I looked I saw a person wearing tattered black robes with a hood that was draw up, they were lounging in the air above me.

So I was dead, for sure? Was that good or bad?

"Who the hell are you?" I asked trying to get a glimpse under that hood. I wanted to know if that was a skeleton under there or not. I couldn't tell if the being was a threat or not.

"I'm not a grim reaper no worries. I guide souls to who have died in battle or on the battlefield into the afterlife. At this point this is where you can either reject the concept that you're dead and become a wandering spirit or accept it and enter the afterlife like you're going to do in the end anyway." The figure shrugged as dark skinned hands reached up and pulled back the hood. I was oddly disappointed to see a male with green hair and pink eyes and not a bag of bones. "So are you from the Paramount War?"

"The what?" I asked.

"The war betw- OH! You're Fire Fist Ace! Sick!" It exclaimed and circled around me examining me from every angle.

"Yeah I'm him." I verified turning as not to let the person be at my back.

"That's cool. Try your fiery-ness." He said. Then stuck his hand into my face and said, "I'm Sen by the way, like I said a spirit guide."

I shook his hand and introduced myself, even though he sortta already knew that I was Ace. But I listened to him and was pleasantly surprised to see that my hand turned into fire. I looked at the now standing upright spirit guide named Sen with a large grin as I flexed my fiery fingers. "How-"

"It's real simple, you're a spirit and well your fire was a part of you, who knows maybe you'll meet someone who ate the mera mera fruit like you did." He shrugged. "So if you stay in this state of in between much longer you'll become a wandering spirit anyways. So yeah, through the gates you go."

"Gates?" I asked looking around. I had heard that both the entrances of heaven and hell had gates. Did he want me to go through the gates of Hell? I mean I knew that I had the blood of a demon coursing through my body, but did that mean that I was going to Hell? I hoped not.

"Yeah, into the afterlife." He flew into my line of sight, his face closer to mine then it needed to be. "Don't fret heaven and hell is just a bunch of bull. So go on, through the gates." He somehow ended up behind me and gave me a shove hard enough to make me stumbled a few steps forwards.

I looked around but there were no gates to go through.

"Are you blind? They're right there." Soft, rather girly hands grabbed either side of my face and tilted my head up to direct my vision to a set of black iron gates.

"How do I-"

"So before we part ways I'll tell you this, the afterlife is what you make it. If you want to sale the Grand Line, well the Grand Line's there for you to sale. Or maybe you want to . . . oh I don't know see your folks or something like that, as long as they've died then you can see them."

"Willow!" I exclaimed suddenly remembering her. It wasn't as though I had forgotten her but she had momentarily slipped my mind when I had woken up when I was supposed to be dead. Dead people are supposed to stay dead; they aren't supposed to wake up.

"Yeah well get going." And with that I pulled out of Sen's grasp and made it up to the hanging open gate. I don't really know how I made it up there but somehow I did and when I stepped through I looked back to see nothing, there was no sign of the gates, and somehow I was standing upright, as though they hadn't been in the sky, hanging open.

I hadn't been standing there, looking around for more than two seconds when a strong voice shouted, "YOU!"

I didn't have to look around to know that I was the only 'you' in this place. But have to or not that's what I did. But when I finally looked towards the voice I saw a blue haired woman standing with a hand on her hip, her legs shoulders width apart and a finger pointing at me accusingly.

Before I could think, before I could consciously make a decision as to what to do a smile spread across my face and I began walking towards her.

"Don't grin at me like that boy!" The woman exclaimed with a frown and a furrowing brow.

What was wrong with Willow? I wondered looking her over.

"You're Fire Fist aren't you?" she asked.

I nodded. Wow I sure was famous, even after death. "Yes ma'am." She may know me but I had a feeling that despite those familiar blue locks that reached the small of her back, the woman before me was not Willow. But then if it weren't her then who was she? The resemblance was striking to say the least but even then I was drawing a blank as to who she could be. She even wore crescent blades at her waist just like Willow did.

"Don't ma'am me!" She snapped the frown on her face deepening.

"You're here!" an excited voice screeched. And before I could locate where the sound had come from and calculate how to reach a blur of blue was all I saw as something solid collided with my body and their arms wrapped around my middle. The force of the impact and lack of preparation forced me to stumble back and even fall. I landed hard on my back and as I gathered my bearings slightly calloused hands pushed against my chest, the arms unwrapping from around me, as the weight on top of me was pushed off my chest and the form into a sitting position.

My eyes made contact with vivid green eyes and a concerned expression. I blinked somewhat surprised but not surprised at the same time. Before I got the chance to grin at her and tell her that was quite the welcoming she cocked her head to the side and repeated herself, which time with a voice muddied with confusion. "Y-you-what are- dead." She stammered with wide eyes.

I propped myself up on my elbows and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Yeah … I sortta got carried away." Maybe I should listen to the crew when I'm mad…though I suppose it was a bit too late for that.

"I-is Luffy… he's ok r-right?" She looked around as if expecting him to, I don't know enter wherever it was we were. The space was still white, and as blank as freshly fallen snow.

"He will be." I sighed heavily. At the moment? No, he wasn't ok and probably wouldn't be for a while. But eventually he'd be able to overcome my loss…or so I hoped.

She nodded and threw her arms around my neck for a quick hug, pulling me into a full sitting position. When she pulled back she grabbed my face between her hands and rested her forehead against mine. "You were supposed to escape." Willow murmured quietly.

"I was provoked." I grumbled none too happily as I remembered the admirals words. Even knowing that I was going to die, I probably still would have reacted the same way.

"You weren't-I wasn't supposed to see you for another twenty, thirty years at the very least."

I pulled back and hung my head. "I'm sorry."

"You know I hate to break up this whatever it is scene but Willow darling you've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do, starting with what happened after out deaths and ending with him." The voice of the woman from before said snappishly, causing Willow to jolt a bit and for both of us to look over at her.

The woman was now lounging on a couch that had not been there before between a brown haired man in Marine attire and Thatch who offered a wave as I noticed his presence. The blue haired woman was pointing at me once again.

I looked between Willow and the woman with bewilderment. The man had green eyes just like hers and the woman had her hair. And if you looked really closely she had the woman's figure and the man's nose and ears.

"Also while we're at it wanna explain what the mark of Whitebeard is doing on your hand?" The man asked with a very displeased tone of voice.

I was about to jump to her defense but Willow beat me to it, stammering like crazy, like she used to. "Uh… well I-I…Pops's…I got…lost a…Cole…Because…Well you-you s-see-"

"She's a daughter of mind Myra." A booming voice that could only belong to one man said from my other side. "Just like you were. Its' great to see you all again." Even though he said all he was talking to Thatch when he said that. Pops nodded at Myra then looked at Thatch. "I see you're doing ok." He gave Willow and I just the slightest of glances and the smallest of smiles before it turned into a grin.

Myra . . . Myra . . . I mentally mused. Was that name supposed to ring any bells? Because it kind of did but not really. I frowned and watched as a thing of Sake suddenly appeared in Pops hand after he sat down on the couch next to Thatch. I swear the couch had gotten large because there was no way that he would have been able to find room to sit if it hadn't.

"You know the only ones missing are Roger and Rogue, wouldn't you say?" The man said before looking at me.

But before I could react, before I could jump up, before I could question anyone or shout how that was NOT a good idea a hand landed on my head and ruffled my hair as a new voice said, "I knew he'd take good care of you son."

"Don't call me that!" I growled reaching up and trying to fix whatever damage he might have done to my hair.

Two people sat on a loveseat, a woman with a hibiscus in her hair, the woman I knew was my mother.

I was going to glare at my father longer then I had the chance to but, the gasped, "A-Ace!" drew my attention away from him and to the girl still on top of me. Her eyes were wide and she was looking between me and Roger as if she couldn't tell which one of us she should look at. "A-Ace." She managed again, her voice but a mere whisper this time.

"What?" I asked. Why did she look so shocked? I didn't see what the big deal was.

"That's your . . . it's…"Willow kept looking over at the man with the black mustache and large grin, as if he was glad to be here. This was just like how she had been when she first met Pops.

"You didn't happen to bring Marco with you guys did you?" The woman asked casually as if Willow wasn't having a moment, as if her and that man's hands weren't clasped together.

Pops shook his head and Roger asked, "So the girls yours Myra?"

Wait that woman knew my dad?! I was still trying to understand what the hell she was doing here in the first place, along with the Marine guy.

"Indeed she is. Now tell your boy to get off my daughter." The woman named Myra snapped at Roger as though he were just another person, which he was but still…, the pride from the first statement vanishing from her expression and her tone. That made so much sense, that woman was Willows mom. Why hadn't I thought of that before? Maybe I was still a bit dazed from everything.

Roger laughed whole heartedly, even though the woman wasn't amused at all. "It's your daughter who is on my son." He pointed out, which was true, she was the one straddling me, not the other way around.

"I think Willow's in a bit of shock. Maybe we should give the two a few minutes." Thatch suggested. They all looked at him as if having forgotten that he was there before all nodding in agreement.

Then Willow's mom pointed at her and said, "When you and lover boy get through with things we expect a long story, from the both of you. And so you know that fellow, what's his name honey?" She looked at the Marine man as if he'd have the answer.

"Masa." He said after a pause.

"Ah yes, just so you know that young man named Masa is facing a mother's wrath." She grinned as though she enjoyed being wrathful.

"He's facing the wrath of two angry parents." The man said, indicating that he too was taking care of the guy named Masa.

"I like the job you did on him." Myra smiled at Willow, who opened her mouth to say something. But before a sound could be uttered this wall or something was put between them and us. It had come out of nowhere, absolutely nowhere! I guess I'd have some fun seeing what I could think up but now was not the time for that.

"Ace…your parents-" Willow began looking at me and not back at anything, anyone, else.

I scratched the back of my head saying, "I guess we never had this conversation." I muttered to Willow. Opps my bad. It had certainly not slipped my mind, I had just been afraid of her reaction. And it wasn't as though she asked, or told me about her parents or anything like that.

She shook her head, confirming that no, we hadn't had this conversation.

Unable to help it I let out a laugh. "So um that gang's all here. Your parents, my parents, Pop's, Thatch-Sabo!" I exclaimed looking around. Where was he?! He had to be here because he was dead, just like Willow and I were, like Pops and Thatch and everyone else we had met today.

"Who?" She asked looking around as well.

"An old friend of mine and Luffy's. You'll love him too." I grinned at Willow then wondered if Sabo had grown up in the afterlife or if he were still small or not. I mean apparently you can change things because Pops looked a lot better without all the medical stuff he was hooked up to. Unfortunately without the oxygen that also meant that there couldn't be any helium oxygen tricks being played on him anymore. I guess I'd look for him, but not now. "I don't think we have long." I said.

"You don't!" That woman's voice snapped.

Jeez she was nothing like Willow! How the heck were they related?! Besides outward appearances I just couldn't see it. And to top that she had charmed a marine as well! What I wanted to know was how she had done it.

"Keep your pants on. Both of you!" She added from somewhere, wherever her and the other people were.

At those words Willows face turned bright red and she weakly managed to say, "M-mom!" as she searched for her mom.

I couldn't help but laugh at her apparent embarrassment, which brought her attention back to me. "Embarrassed?" I lightly teased her with a smile.

"V-very."

Again I laughed. Sometimes Willow was just too cute to be a pirate, and this was one of those times. "Well don't be."

"W-what? Y-you just heard what my m-mom said."

I nodded. "Yeah she said that we didn't have long." I quoted the woman and wondered exactly how long not long was.

Willow was quiet for a moment, chewing at the inside of her bottom lip as she looked at me deep in thought.

I suppose it was kind of rude to interrupt but as Myra had said she wasn't giving us long. "What are you thinking about?" I asked. Maybe I could be of assistance? Or something like that so that we wouldn't waste much time.

"Not that I'm glad you're dead, but I'm so glad you're here." She smiled almost sheepishly and ran a hand up the back of my neck and raked her fingers through my hair. For some reason she looked really uneasy and unsure. I really wished that I could read her mind so that I could figure out why and how to make it better if I could. But before I could ask what was up another time her hand slipped out of my air and my face was held once again between her hands before she began kissing all over my face. She kissed my cheekbone, several of my freckles (I think), my temple, between my eyes, my forehead, my jaw and my temple.

Her pervious nervousness now made sense. But even then I got a bit impatient and quite fed up with the shy and most likely unintentionally teasing, butterfly kisses. I lifted my hand and grabbed her chin, instantly making Willow still.

-Willow-

It had taken so much somehow mustered up courage for me to kiss Ace and now he stops me! God I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't let his infectious smile get to me, or his laugh. I shouldn't have so extremely happy to see him and his freckled face that I just couldn't resist the urge to kiss it.

When I began trying to pull back, to get off his lap, which I was suddenly very conscious of, he held onto my chin and didn't let go. He didn't let me push away, he didn't let me get up.

"A-ace." I weakly protested. My efforts to get away were just as weak.

He shushed me before leaning in and pressing his lips to mine. My heart not only skipped a few beats but it began hammering in my veins, loudly in my ears. The kiss was soft, it was sweet, and I didn't know what the hell to do.

He pulled away enough so that kisses could be trailed across my jaw. So that shivers danced up my spine and goosebumps blossomed on my arms and raised the hairs at the back of my neck when his lips rested against my ear. "Now what was it you were trying to tell me over the transponder snail?" He asked, making my heart slam to a stop right then and there.

I couldn't help but wonder if he had he known all along? If so why had he always interrupted me?

Even though the answer was in my mind the moment he asked his question I couldn't help but hesitate. But then again what better time than now to tell him since neither of us were going anywhere anytime soon and god only knew how much longer we'd have before mom decided that our time was up. "I…I- well I wanted to tell you that I…I love you." It felt good to have gotten those words out all at the same time; it felt marvelous to have said those words, to have gotten them off my chest. Now the only thing left was rejection. And with that thought I was suddenly scared of his response.

Due to the closeness of his mouth of my ear I could feel the smile, grin, whatever stretch across his face. "I know. I just wanted to hear you say it in person. Sorry. I know I was selfish."

I jerked back to look at Ace, shocked to say the least. So not only he had known but that wasn't the word choice you'd use of you were rejecting someone! I didn't know if that was good or not. I mean all of that time I had thought….heck I don't even know what I had thought. But I would have never imagined that he had purposely been cutting me off all of those times. "R-really?" The question came out sounding breathless.

The grin turned into one of the big smiles that overtook most of his face and made me smile a bit in return, upon seeing it. But then the smile dropped and he looked towards the direction of where our parents, Pops and Thatch had been seated- god only knew what had happened to them all- then back at me with this dead serious expression on his face. "Are you sure you want to love someone like me? Someone with the blood of a demon in his veins, someone so worthless?"

I nodded as fast as I could the moment he was done speaking. I simply couldn't piece together a coherent verbal response fast enough. Even if I had been able to mere words wouldn't begin to express who I felt, even a picture wouldn't be able to depict how I felt with perfect clarity. But then I managed to whisper out the words, "Oh god yes. Ace d-don't say that."

Suddenly his smile returned to his face.

Relieved I leaned forwards and rested my forehead against his.

"That's fantastic news because you know the feeling's mutual." Ace said before his lips met mine again, sweeping me away with another kiss. At the contact my cheeks burned, they must have been cherry red at this moment!

I found it kind of funny, ironic funny, that only after death had we been able to reach this point, had we beeen able to confess what the entire Whitebeard crew had probably already known.

Not wanting to but preferring breaking apart to anyone interrupting the two of us I pulled back and got off of Ace looking away for a moment completely embarrassed that I had been straddling him since had had gotten here. "I-it's t-time to…to face our-everyone." I quickly managed in response to Ace's bewildered look on the ground.

He nodded and pushed himself to his feet as well. Once standing next to me he playfully pouted with the huffed out words "Way to ruin the mood." As he crossed his arms across his chest.

"S-sorry. It was either me or my mom." I told him. I was glad he didn't seem upset or anything. I mean after all of this time we had about 5 minutes, that was all. I guess it was a good thing we were dead, it at least meant that one of us couldn't die and the other had to live on…

"I like you better." He laughed slinging an arm around my shoulders and getting close, as if all personal barriers had suddenly been dissolved. But I guess I didn't really mind.

I laughed a bit as well. "Good. It'd be weird if you liked my mom more than me."

"The Marine's your dad right?"

"Yeah."

I nodded. We had never, ever had a conversation about our families, hence my shock that THE Gold Roger was Ace's dad. "Don't worry." Though I doubt he was worried. Dad had only become a vice admiral and Ace had faced a full admiral, among other things, fearlessly.

"I'm more worried about you and Roger; you should have seen your face." Ace then proceeded to mock my wide eyed, open mouthed expression.

I smacked him in the arm laughing. There was no way my face had looked like that when I had made that expression. "Stop it. That was a totally normal reaction."

He shook his head and pulled his hat onto his head before his eyes lit up and he looked at me. "Hey I think I've got the hang of this place!" His arm slid off of my shoulders as he reached up to feel the beads that hadn't been around his neck but now were.

"Really now?" I asked even though he had plainly gotten a hang of this place as he had said.

"Yeah when we're done with this I'll show you the New World and other parts of the Grand Line. Hell I'll show you where I grew up and everything." He grinned widely with his eyes gleaming.

"On our way there you'll tell me those stories you promised right?"

Ace smacked his palm to his face. "I totally forgot about those! Yeah, I'll tell you those after this story, alright?"

I nodded and he held his arm out for me like a gentleman and I slipped my arm through his. "That sounds like a good plan."

"Ready?" He asked.

"Y-yeah." I managed as the wall disappeared, revealing my parents, his parents, Pops, Thatch and a new boy wearing a black top hat with goggles resting a top its brim, a missing tooth and blonde hair.

Ace dragged me over to him and said, "Hey!"

"Hey. I thought you'd recognize me better like this. But you know you can change your age here." And with that he grew to a height about Ace's height, the missing tooth was gone, his body now tall and lean but not scrawny like Luffy. The moment he was done growing and all that him and Ace pulled each other into a bear hug after bumping fists.

When they pulled away the boy, Sabo I guess, looked me over and expectantly asked, "Who is this?"

Ace smiled, pulled me close and introduced me as his girl, despite my mom's protest.

Thatch's voice reached our ears with a smile in its tone. "It's about time you guys. You were killing us."

After their reunion and Thatch's comment we faced everyone and began explaining everything to my mom. I started at Luffy crashing into my house and the ending… well our story, its ending had yet to be written.

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An: So I really hope that this chapter did indeed ease your hearts if only a bit.

I usually do this at the end of all my fics so . . . yeah. I just wanna thank everybody for their support.

I love it and without it I wouldn't have been encouraged to complete this fic.

The list is really long but I wanna say thank you to (in no specific order):

AiSoraix3

Alice.

AmazonianGirl

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akgrownrandi- again thanks a bunch for the wonderful fan art

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And because I have this feeling I missed a lot of people- I wanna thank you as well. (I'm REALLY sorry if you're one of these people)

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism is all welcome and very greatly appreciated.


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